Glee Season 5 AU Rewrite
by hwerttytttt
Summary: A whole rewrite of Season 5 that will mainly be original episodes from E6 onwards. Only episodes 1,2 and 5 are identical to the storylines present in Glee S5. The main focus will be in Lima, Ohio so there won't be any NY stuff, or at least, minimal in this AU rewrite. Finn is still alive in this AU season :D and I'm adding some of favs from TGP such as Michellie.
1. Chapter 1

**Glee S5 AU  
Episode 1  
Love Love Love**

* * *

**Author's Comment:** This is just an AU of Glee, something like episode rewrites or whatever, most of the stories will be about the same, sometimes with difference here and there. And the focus is mainly only at Lima, Ohio. Skip Episode 1,2 and 5 if you want to just get to the original storylines, these 3 mainly follow those stories found in the Glee episodes already! 3

**Episode Storylines:**  
Artie and Kitty: The wake of their secret relationship  
Blaine: Proposal to Kurt Hummel

* * *

"Oh my god, we're here!" Tina screamed out as she jumped out of the bus, waving her arms in the air like a flapping chicken. Each and every New Direction member followed after her, joyously jumping and bouncing into the entrance of the Chetch Carnival.

"Don't look so glum, this was your idea" Kitty strolled past Artie, looking very unenthusiastic at the flashing neon signs of the carnival. Everything seemed way too fun in contrast to her snarky behavior.

" Well, winning Regionals is something to be proud of," Artie muttered as he wheeled beside her. Kitty watched him for awhile before slowing down to push his wheelchair. Artie turned behind, watching Finn and Mr. Schuester trudging out of the bus, Finn laughing at whatever mediocre joke Mr. Schue had told him . He looked ahead to see the other ten members of the Glee club being swallowed up by the crowd. Artie sighed, "might as well make the best of it."

"You wanted to come here for a reason," Kitty gave him a look, but quickly realised that all she could see was the top of his head, "what is it?"

Bumper cars of course, he had never rode one, and with his condition, not many people ever let him ride on them for god-knows why, but he never told anyone this before. But Kitty was someone he could trust, she did help him get into Brooklyn Film Academy. They pushed past the crowd, which naturally parted when they saw Artie come through. One perk of being a cripple, Artie scorned. As they moved past the vast game stations, Artie finally caught sight of what he finally wanted to do.

"A bumper car station?" Kitty asked. The retort in her voice clear as day. Artie opened his mouth to argue but Kitty had already began pushing him up the ramp and into the surprisingly short queue.

"You know," Kitty started, turning Artie around so that they could finally talk face to face, "I can't believe Mr. Schue gave us an assignment like three hours after Regionals, I expected us to get a break." She stared at Artie's puzzled look and understood that that was the norm. But of course, having gone through Sectionals with Finn instead, and well, lost, she wasn't too sure what to expect. A break would have been nice though. "And what the hell is with him making us do the Beatles? A band from the 40s with mushroom heads aren't exactly..."

"Woah woah woah, hold up there, woman," Artie, showing his disgusted face to everyone in sight, held his hand up high. He cocked his head to the left, mouth agape and stared at Kitty dead in the eye. "You haven't even heard any of their songs, have you?"

Without waiting for a reply, Artie scanned through his phone and played the first Beatles song he could find. Worst of all, he started singing along to it. The melody of Drive My Car hit Kitty's ears as she stared at him with complete shock.

"Artie, this isn't High School Musical, you can't just burst out singing in a public place!" She paused and looked around. Sure enough, people are staring. A whole lot of people actually. "Artie!"

But he didn't seem to care, he pumped his fist around, jerking around in his little wheel chair, and just then the clerk let them into a bumper car.

"I'm not helping you into that car until you stop singing."

Artie didn't stop singing, he seemed determine to make Kitty join in. Kitty rolled her eyes as she carried Artie into the seat and placed herself gently by his side. Artie continued singing as they drove around the lot, crashing and slamming into any car they saw. Soon, Kitty started to forget the embarrassment she had felt and found herself actually enjoying Artie's little stunt.

_Artie  
__Baby you can drive my car  
Yes I'm gonna be a star_

Soon, Kitty picked up the lyrics as they drove around in circles. Round and round and round as they laughed maniacally, sadistically trying to smash people into the walls of the lot.

_Artie and Kitty  
__I told a girl I can start right away  
And she said listen babe I got something to say  
I got no car and it's breaking my heart_

People around were staring, smiling. Some even hummed along to their tunes. Kitty looked into Arties gleeful face. And to her, his face was the brightest light there was in the carnival. His happiness and excitement seemed so important to her and it just made her happy too. And it never occurred to her how much being with him excited her.

_Artie and Kitty  
__But I've found a driver and that's a start__  
__Beep beep beep beep yeah  
Beep beep beep beep yeah_

Artie screamed out the last few words and threw his arms into the air, sending their bumper car spinning right into the wall. Their heads knocked together and all Kitty could do was burst out laughing. Artie gave her a dopey look, a playful one going "oops!", and she laughed again.

"Told you the Beatles were rad."

"No one uses that word anymore, wheels"

**Glee**

Blaine sat alone, fiddling a small red carpet box in his hands. Thinking, just thinking, staring off into the distance. Kurt's been the love of his life, and even though he knows that he had hurt Kurt, he was sure Kurt would say yes. The buzz on his phone woke him from his daydreams.

"From: Rachel  
He's going back tonight! OMG Tell me what happens k? I'm sorry I cant be  
there :( Love! 3"

Blaine sighs with relief as Tina slides next to him with a tray of food.

"They're out of to... Oh my god! What is that?"

She yanked the box away from Blaine and slowly opened it. Blaine could almost hear her jaw hit the ground. She looked at Blaine as if her heart was going to melt, her eyes wide and sparkling.

"It's no big deal."

"No big deal, are you kidding me?!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Blaine agreed that this was something to be excited by, but Tina was going over the edge. "When, when, when?! Why didn't I know about this?"

"It's tomorrow. No one knows yet, could you keep it down first please." Tina looked around, turning red. But that didn't decrease her level of enthusiasm. "I'm planning to do it at Dalton"

And there goes Tina's enthusiasm. "What?" Equally loud, but now in a totally different tone of voice. "You're doing it at Dalton? Dalton Academy, with those wicked Warblers?"

"Tina, their my friends." Blaine, still trying to contain his patience. He really wants to tell Tina to pipe down because half the canteen could probably hear her.

"Warblers?" Sugar shrieked as she took a seat opposite Tina. "What about them?"

"Blaine's thinking of proposing to Kurt at Dalton," Tina still unable to hide her sense of betrayal and shock.

"You're proposing to Kurt?" Sugar's cookie fell out of her mouth as it opened wide with surprise. Great, now that's one more person knowing it ahead of schedule, Blaine thought, and what is so shocking about it? "I hope it doesn't end up the same way as Finn and Rachel's one did though, that was horrible," Sugar stated, too matter-of-fact-ly for anyone's good. She looked up to see Blaine and Tina's dark faces and shrugged it off. "Sorry,"

"Asperger's" they all said at once, with Blaine and Tina turning away to hide they're faces.

**Glee**

"Look, all I'm saying is that we keep what happened at the carnival to ourselves, Artie, that's no big deal," Kitty said in a hushed voice. She clearly did not want anyone to hear it, even though they were in an empty classroom with the doors shut tight. People may actually have dirty thoughts about what the two of them were doing in there alone.

"I really like you, it's just that Bree and the others aren't gonna like this one bit."

"Who's Bree?" Artie's very confused. One day, they were having the time of their life, and the next, Kitty wants to start a secret relationship. A relationship with Kitty was no problem, Artie really liked her. But why secret?

"She's a bitch. Literally a bitch." Kitty heaved a heavy sigh and plopped down onto a chair. "I really like you, Artie. And that's really saying something because I'll never ever say that out loud. And I want this to work."

"So we're doing this in secret because of some bitch." Emphasising bitch so much just to show Kitty how ridiculous this was.

"It's not just about her, it's about my reputation. Everyone expects me to date a jock or one of those brainless rascals." Kitty looked at Artie and he could swear that all he could see was sadly. She spun around, digging through her bag before taking out a page of song lyrics. "You have to hide your love away sometimes, right?"

**Glee**

_Artie__  
Here I stand head in hand  
Turn my face to the wall  
If she's gone I can't go on  
Feeling two-foot small_

He stole a glimpse at Kitty, who was just silently watching the floor, waiting for her cue to sing.

_Kitty__  
Everywhere people stare  
Each and every day  
I can see them laugh at me  
And I hear them say_

Finally she looks back at Artie, her eyes filled with tears. Maybe she regretted her decision, Artie thought. Secret relationships are just like prison. No freedom.

_Artie and Kitty  
__How could she say to me  
Love will find a way  
Gather round all you clowns  
Let me hear you say  
Hey you've got to hide your love away  
Hey you've got to hide your love away_

Artie reached out his hand to touch Kitty but she does not even give it a second look. She turned back and continued looking to the ground, singing the words, as if the lyrics were somewhere embedded onto the tiles of the choir room. Artie shifts his focus away from her as the words kept pouring out of his mouth. Every lyric of the song, he could relate to. Kitty chose a hell of a song.

After they were done, the only sound was the applause from Mr Schue. Apparently, he's the only one who doesn't know what the heck was going on. Artie looked up to see everyone's sympathetic faces staring into his soul. Kitty's too of course. But then Artie looked at Finn, whose face had turned hard as metal. Finn probably knew what Artie was going through, or well, Kitty more specifically. But he chose to ruin his reputation by dating Rachel anyway. Why can't Kitty be like him, Artie thought.

"Because that'll be selfish," a voice whispered into Artie's ear. He jumped a little in his seat, metaphorically, of course. And stared at Tina who had magically appeared by his side, pushing his to the seating area of the choir room. Had she read his mind, or did he say his thoughts out? Artie guess he'll never know, but he sure as hell would not have wanted Kitty to hear him say that out loud. "Blaine's got an announcement."

Tina took a seat beside Artie as Blaine took centre stage. His hands holding a little red box. Every Glee club member craning their necks to get a peek of it. Blaine's heart pumped faster and faster as he opened the box to reveal a silver encrusted ring with a ruby on top. Kurt's favourite gem.

"I'm going to ask Kurt to marry me," Blaine said.

The whole choir room erupted into applause and cheer. Marley covered her mouth and screamed, tugging at Jake's arm. Tina and Sam ran up to Blaine, hugging him and congratulating him. Mr Schue was clapping his hand together. But on one end of the choir room, Ryder just looked incredibly confused, "Who's Kurt?".

But Finn just remained quiet, sitting on the chair and well, not talking at all. Until he looked up at Blaine and cut everybody's excitement with his booming voice. "What?" He was clearly not excited by the news. He seemed angry actually. That was a Finn even Tina and Artie barely ever saw.

Mr Schue opened his mouth to speak but Finn just rushed up to Blaine. Tina and Sam scooted away, not wanting to be part of this banter. Blaine had made plans to propose to Kurt, but never even stopped to tell Kurt's brother about it.

"You're not even with him anymore." Finn's cold eye stare sending chills down the intimidated Blaine.

"I know, but"

"He's with someone else now." Finn then walked out of the choir room, leaving Blaine to just stare at the air in complete shock. Scary Finn was not something he had ever seen. Or something he would want to see again. But if Finn reacted that way, what would Kurt do if he proposed?

**Glee**

"Cut Finn some slack, he's just going through a hard time," Tina said, walking with Blaine, who was dressed sharply in a rented tuxedo. She didn't look too bad herself, in a light pink dress which spreads out like flower petals at the ends. "You did to Kurt what Rachel did to him, I don't think he's really forgiven Rachel for that whole Brody thing yet, so..."

"Please don't ever mention Eli," and Tina could see the guilt on his face. But what's done is done, no matter how much Blaine wanted to undo Eli, he couldn't. All he could do now is hope that Kurt had forgiven him and they had moved on from that as a couple.

Finn was right, still. Kurt has been dating Adam in NYADA. Rachel has told him that they weren't exclusive but if Kurt really liked Adam... No, he can't think like that anymore. Everything goes his way most of the time anyway. And Kurt loves him. He'll say yes.

"He's coming, he's coming!" Unique screamed as she edged away from the door and moved into position. The 11 Glee club members, excluding Sugar who had the excuse of "I don't care about some stupid proposal", stood in a curved line, surrounding the hall of Dalton Academy. Blaine stood in the middle, with the ring in his right pocket, ready to be presented.

"Cue music," Blaine whispered into Sam's ear.

The Warblers stationed at the door nodded and opened the door. Kurt, Burt and Carol walked through the door. Finn wasn't with them. Kurt's stunned expression was beyond words as the Warblers and the New Directions started singing to the music playing through the PA system.

_New Directions and Warblers_  
_Love, love, love  
Love, love, love  
Love, love, love_

Blaine took Kurt's hand in his and they began waltzing down the hallways. Every inch of the place decorated with ruby and golden banners and ribbons. Rose petals all over the floor and Polaroid pictures of the two of them together scattered among the red patches.

_Blaine__  
No one you can save that can't be saved  
Nothing you can do, but you can learn  
How to be you in time  
It's easy_

Blaine stole glimpses at Kurt's both shocked and delighted face, trying to make out what he's thinking. They continued moving from hallway to hallway, each decorated with different colours. Everyone else followed closely behind, beautifully harmonising to Blaine's songs. As they walked through the rainbow wonderland of Kurt's dreams, Kurt's smile was plastered onto his face. This was the most romantic anyone had ever done for him.

_Blaine__  
All you need is love  
All you need is love  
All you need is love, love  
Love is all you need_

Just as they hit the Warbler's room, Confetti started falling out of nowhere. Decorating the place like indoor snow. Kurt wailed in delight as he walked around the room, soaking in the atmosphere. Blaine swallowed hard as he finished his song and got down on one knee. Kurt turned around and saw his former boyfriend kneeling in front of him. But all he could see was a ring in his hands.

"Blaine..." There was sadness in his voice. Excitement too, but more of the former.

"Kurt Elizabeth Hummel," moment of truth, "will you marry me?"

Kurt covered his mouth and let a sound only Blaine recognised was excitement. Everyone else was staring, touched beyond means. Kitty looked at Artie, who had his two hands clutching his jaw in suspense. She gingerly slid her hand into his and looked at him. Artie smiled back, clutching her hand close and entangling their fingers together, placing them near his heart. They looked back at Kurt, who was still standing there in shock. Blaine beamed with joy as he got up, sliding the ring out of the box

Kurt dropped his hands as Blaine rose. Instead of the elated expression Blaine had expected, Kurt gave him a sorrowful one. Kurt reached out touched Blaine's hands, pushing the ring back into the box.

"No."

* * *

**Author's comments:** Hope you liked it. If you actually bothered reading the whole thing and liked it, do leave a review, good or bad. I'm not expecting many, but nonetheless I'll just continue writing. Season 5 of Glee was disappointing in some aspects but some stories were great, I'm just planning to rewrite all 22 episodes, expanding the Ohio arc to that long, and yes, Finn will be alive 3 in a perfect world.

**Songs:  
**Drive My Car by The Beatles sung by Artie Abrams and Kitty Wilde  
Hide Your Love Away by The Beatles sung by Artie Abrams and Kitty Wilde  
All You Need Is Love by The Beatles sung by Blaine Anderson


	2. Chapter 2

**Glee S5 AU  
Episode 2  
Tina in the Sky with Diamonds**

* * *

**Author's Comments: **Plotwise, nothing changes much, although it really only focused on Tina's arc. Because I personally think that was an amazing story for Tina, it really made Glee Club seem like a family too, during Hey Jude and that was awesome. Next episode rewrite will definitely differ from Glee's story. It'll be focused on Finn but nothing about death.

**Episode Storylines:**  
Tina: After years of insecurity, Tina finally dares to run for Prom Queen and is determined to win  
Kitty: Nominated alongside Tina for Prom Queen, she must now choose where her loyalty lies

* * *

_Sam__  
Something in the way she knows  
And all I have to do is think of her  
Something in the things she shows me  
I don't want to leave her now  
You know I believe and how_

"Alright, Sam!" Finn jumped out of his seat and smacked Sam on the back. Sam smiled sheepishly as he walked back to his seat.

"Well, that song's going to give me nightmares about Sam's mouth," Kitty mocked, contorting her face in the most disturbing manner ever.

"Kitty, don't be rude," Mr. Schue said, staring straight at the blonde cheerleader.

"Did you see the way his mouth moved, especially during his whole 'slow-mo' impression, I mean what the heck is that?"

"Don't say that, that was a beautiful song dedicated to me," Tina asserted.

Sam rocked uncomfortably in his seat. "Erm, Tina, that song wasn't for you."

"What?" She jumped out of her seat, so violently, causing the chair behind her to topple over. "But you agreed to go with me to Prom."

"Yeah, but that new nurse girl's kind of hot," Sam didn't even need to look around to see everyone's faces of disbelief. No one ever just says that to a girl. Tina's face was even redder than usual. "Not saying you're not hot, it's just Penny's a whole lot hotter, ya know?" But that didn't seem to do any good, Tina's eyes grew even wider as if she was going to explode. A ticking-time bomb.

Luckily for him, Dottie came running into the choir room screaming for Tina.

"What is it Dottie?!" Tina screamed out in annoyance. Way too loud that Unique dropped her lip-stick and Mr Schue snapped his marker into two. And Sam's just happy that shout wasn't directed in his direction.

"Erm," Dottie started, but after seeing Tina's impatience, quickly rambled on, "nomination for Prom Queen, Aimee Ryan, Jordon Stern, Kitty Wilde, Tina-C... you."

Tina spun round to face the Glee club, her face lit up like a beacon in the sea, in very deep contrast to her expression before. She covers her mouth as she bends down in excitement, silently screaming into her palms. Everyone claps for her as Kitty wondered in silence. "But I'm a sophomore," she murmured to Joe.

Joe turned to her, "Prom here is for everybody. King and Queen can go to freshmen too."

"Weird school."

"Amen."

"Kitty," Tina, finally snapping out of her excitement, walked towards Kitty with an accusing finger, "you're nominated too right?"

"Get that finger away from me, Chang-Chang. And yes, I am," she studied Tina's disappointed demeanour and continued, smiling at Tina, "but I'm still a sophomore, you have my one hundred percent support."

After hearing that, Tina burst into a smile, and surveyed the members in front of her. But then it struck her, "So, who's taking me to Prom?" Everyone fell silent. She looked over to Sam but quickly remembered about his stunning betrayal and turned her attention to the other guys instead.

"I'm going with Unique," Ryder pointed out.

"An apology for overreacting to the whole cat-fishing thing." A comment that made Ryder roll his eyes at Unique. Unsurprisingly, that was still a topic to stay away from. "I'll quit Glee club, Mr. Schue," chimed Unique, impersonating Ryder the best she can.

"I'm going, slash not going with Kitty," mused Artie, who earned a slap on the shoulder from Kitty for that.

"I got Bible study that night," Joe croaked in his seat, "I'm not going at all."

"And Jake's taking me," Marley said, as Jake leaned in for a kiss.

Tina had to look away just to avoid the awkwardness at looking at them. But deep inside her she could feel a bit of jealousy. She looked around to Blaine, who was still leaning on the piano, head down onto the keys. He hasn't spoken in days after Kurt rejected him. Tina sighed and took another glance at the options she had left. She had none in the Glee club anymore, unless...

"Finn!"

"Huh?" Finn gulped. He hadn't been listening since the start of Tina's rambles about Prom since he really couldn't care less about girlish fantasies, but now he thought he was in trouble. "Wait, what?"

"Tina, he's not even a student anymore, and he's not a teacher, I'm not sure he can go to the Prom." Tina looked right at Mr. Schue with annoyance. Clearly, he had not been caught up with New Direction's affairs this year.

"If Santana can come back for our school production of Grease," stressing on school so much to make Finn feel really guilty, "Finn can come for Prom."

Finn opened his mouth to protest but just then the bell rang and Tina was halfway out the door.

"What the hell just happened?"

"You've got a new date," Artie chuckled as he wheeled past.

**Glee**

Kitty walked silently through the halls McKinley high school, watching as the crowd edge away from her path. She amuses herself this way, the power she has in this school. She turned to her locker, sending a couple who was making out in front of it away. To the depths of hell, hopefully, she thought. Jealous that others don't have to hide their relationships in front of everyone else, she started throwing all her books into her locker. It was not until she closed it that she realised a poster of her pasted on her locker door.

"Kitty-Kitty Prom Prom" Below that was a picture of her head photo-shopped onto Olivia Munn.

"Hope you liked your posters, Kitty, the Cheerios worked really hard on them."

Kitty turned around to find herself staring straight into Bree's grinning face.

"What are you doing?"

" I was so psyched that a fellow Cheerio was nominated for Prom Queen. And then I heard that you weren't going to campaign for it, and instead you were throwing your support to that Asian girl from Glee Club because you thought it was 'her turn'. Now, if that's true, you might want to tie yourself down, because this is gonna be a rough ride. I just wanted to remind you that a Cheerio has not won Prom Queen for several years now. We've had Prom Queens from Glee Club, including the Jewish girl and a gay dude. And if we're not careful, I swear to God we're gonna have a black transsexual named Unique as Prom Queen before we have a Cheerio as Prom Queen.  
Now, I know you're thinking to yourself: But  
O.  
M.  
G.  
Bree, I love the Asian girl from Glee Club. Well, punch yourself in the face so I don't have to."

"Don't talk to Kitty like that!" Artie wheeled in, coming in between Kitty and the talking machine gun.

"Who the hell is this? You have a cripple for a boyfriend, Kitty?"

"He's just a friend, and Bree, I appreciate the help, but I'm not going to campaign." From the corner of her eye, she could see Artie die a little inside. But there was nothing she could do. Bree was like the alpha bitch now, and in the everyone's eyes, she'll always be second to Bree in that category. Whore, thought Kitty, what I'd do to stick a pencil up her overly big ears.

"You have 51 weeks out of the year to love your sisters from Glee Club, and this week is not, I repeat, not one of them. This week is about winning Prom Queen for the Cheerios, and that's not gonna happen if you're off campaigning for Kimchi Cohen-Barf or whoever."

"Bree,"

"Are you an idiot, Kitty? That's not a rhetorical question. I literally want you to tell me if you're mentally slow, so I can be sure you're not nominated for future prom courts."

"Kitty!" Tina rushed to Kitty's side holding up a Kitty-Kitty Prom-Prom poster. "This is unbelievable."

"Unbelievable," echoed Dottie, following up behind Tina, looking around at the posters, plastered on the school lockers.

Bree moved in closer to Kitty, whispering in her ear, "Let's each take an Asian, shall we? Dottie!" Suddenly more excited than anything else, " let's talk for awhile, shall we?"

"You... you know my name?" gasped Dottie, flustered for words as she gingerly followed Bree away.

"I thought you said you weren't campaigning!" Tina's rage was undeniable, but her doubt was clear as day. No way Kitty would have photoshopped herself onto someone else. She's too proud for that.

"Look, Tina, this isn't made by me."

"Then, who?"

"Bree did it," Artie said, still looking sad as ever.

"I didn't lie when I said I'm behind you hundred percent," assured Kitty, "this is your senior year, I'm not going to stand in your way."

Tina sensed the sincerity in Kitty's voice and chuckled. She had never seen Kitty so nice before. It's an amazing transformation from the Kitty they first met. She opened her arms for a hug and Kitty jumped into her arms.

"Let's sing a song together, okay? Beatles week." Kitty nodded.

**Glee**

_Tina  
__You say you want a revolution  
Well, you know  
We all want to __change the world_

_Kitty  
__You tell me that it's evolution  
Well, you know  
We all want to change the world_

Tina and Kitty pranced around the choir room, rocking on the tune of Revolution while every watches with awe.

_Tina__**  
**__You ask me for a contribution  
Well, you know  
We're doing what we can_

The next thing they knew, the whole Glee club was pasting up posters to support Tina Cohen-Chang. Kitty saw the removal of every Kitty Kitty Prom Prom poster herself, tearing each one of them down with howling delight.

"Wow, the school's really littered with your face," Finn commented, putting an arm around Tina.

Tina leaned her head onto Finn's chest. God, he's tall. "You don't have to go with me, you know. I was kind of pushy."

"Yeah, you reminded me of Rachel for a while."

Tina immediately backed away, distancing herself from Finn. "Oh, god no."

Chuckling, Finn said, "Don't worry, I'll go with you. I mean, what's the worst that can happen?"

**Glee**

Pushing past everyone standing in her way, Tina crashed through the gym door, soaking wet and horribly embarrassed. Her one amazing night ruined. Red dye covered her whole body, ice stuck in uncomfortable places. This was the worst day of her life. She dragged herself into the choir room, leaving behind a trial of red. Tina slumped into a chair, hitting the Prom Queen's tiara off her head so violently it landed halfway across the room.

"Tina!" Finn walked into the room, the rest of New Directions behind him.

"Leave. Me. Alone." Tina struggled for words under her heavy chocking. Tears flowed uncontrollably from her eyes as she tried to make them go away. But her whole body was soaked red and she couldn't do anything to get the tears out of her eyes.

"We need to get you out of those wet clothes and into something dry."

"Just leave me like this!" Tina raised her voice, drowning out the sobs coming out from her own mouth. But every word was a struggle with her throat clenched shut, "I swear, I just thought for one lousy night of my life, I could be that girl."

Tina carelessly stood up, ploughed through the Glee club and headed for the door. "But who am I kidding? I'm not that girl, and I will never be that girl!"

Sam, who was at the back of the pack, grabbed her arm. "Tina, where are you going?"

"I'm going home, Sam!" Almost crying out the words like a river. Tears started streaming down her face again, mixing with the red dye to turn her whole face into a waterfall.

Sam loosened his grip on Tina and Tina broke free. She couldn't stand the looks of pity on her friend's face, or the hysterical laughter from everyone in the gym at her expense. Before she even took a step, however, another hand grabbed her shoulder.

"This is your prom, Queen T," Blaine said, the first words he ever spoke in a week. "From what I can see you have two choices, and whichever one you pick, we will be supportive."

"Blaine..."

"We can either drive you home, or we can clean you up, and you can go back out there and own that prom." Blaine had both arms on her shoulders, shaking her, as if to wake her up from a horrible nightmare.

"You can wear my dress." Kitty offered, stepping out towards Tina.

"Or Mine." Marley and Unique stated together.

"You can have mine too," Sugar took a step towards Tina, "But I'd rather you take Kitty's."

Tina looked at them and couldn't shake off her happiness. She had never knew that they cared for her that much. But they were family after all.

As the girls took Tina to the back of the room to clean her up and get her changed, Blaine walked to wards the piano.

"What are you doing?" Ryder asked, eyeing Blaine suspiciously.

"Tina's favourite Beatles song." He looked up to give Ryder a sad smile. And then he laid his fingers on the piano and sung.

_Blaine  
__Hey Jude__, don't make it bad  
Take a sad song and make it better  
Remember to let her into your __heart__  
Then you can start to make it better_

The members of New Directions stared at Blaine for a moment, before joining in.

_Blaine and Kitty  
__Hey Jude, don't be afraid  
You were made to go out and get her  
The minute you let her under your skin  
Then you begin to make it better_

_Finn  
__And anytime you feel the pain  
Hey Jude, refrain  
Don't carry the world upon your shoulders_

Tina smiled as she got up, clean and dry. She turned around to see Kitty holding up her pink dress.

"Wear it, you'll look beautiful."

Tina hugged Kitty, squeezing her tight.

"Your dress is still wet."

"Sorry."

Tina wiped the tears from her eyes and changed out of her dress, putting on Kitty's light fluffy pink one. The New Directions followed her out the door, staying behind her as she walked back to the gym, all of them still humming and singing along to the tune of her favourite song.

_Tina and Sam  
__So let it out and let it in,  
Hey Jude, begin  
You're waiting for someone to perform with  
And don't you know that it's just you,  
Hey Jude, you'll do  
The movement you need is on your shoulder_

Blaine and Sam slammed the door open, giving way to Tina. Everyone parted to let her through to the stage, staring at the no-dry her. No red dye visible. Looking on as the New Directions cheered on behind her, screaming out the rest of the lyrics of Hey Jude as she climbed up the steps and onto the stage. As New Directions finished their song, the whole gym fell silent.

Tina slowly picked up the bucket and lifted it high into the air. "I'm Tina-Cohen Chang, and I accept your crown! Long live Prom!"

With that the music blasted back on and everyone cheered. Everyone except Bree, who just walked away, unenthusiastically clapping her hands.

**Glee**

_Tina  
__When I find myself in times of trouble  
Mother Mary comes to me  
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be_

_Kitty  
__And in my hour of darkness  
She is standing right in front of me  
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be_

_Tina and Artie  
__Let it be, let it be  
Let it be, let it be  
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be_

The whole Glee Club walked onto stage, except Joe who was at Bible Study, signing melodiously to the song, swaying side to side, smiling and giggling at each other. Mr. Schue and Finn watched from the seats of the auditorium, with pride on their face.

_Artie  
__Whisper words of wisdom  
Let it be, hee!_

* * *

**Songs:**  
Something by The Beatles sung by Sam  
Revolution by The Beatles sung by Tina and Kitty  
Hey Jude by The Beatles sung by Blaine, Sam, Finn, Tina and Kitty  
Let It Be by The Beatles sung by Tina, Kitty and Artie


	3. Chapter 3

**Glee S5 AU  
Episode 3  
The Quaterback**

* * *

**Storylines:**  
Finn: After hearing about Mr. Schue's decision to leave the Glee Club in his hands permanently, Finn doubts that he is up for the task  
Kurt: Kurt struggles to find a solution to his complicated relationship with Blaine

* * *

Finn slipped out from between the blanket and the sheets and sat by the side of his bed. Just last night Mr. Schue had given him an offer he couldn't refuse, or rather, too afraid to refuse. He's coached the New Directions before. And in that short time he did, they suffered their first lost at Sectionals. It wasn't his fault, everyone had told him, but if he had noticed Marley's increasingly quiet attitude and tried to solve the problem, then they wouldn't have failed. But they did fail, and he's afraid that with his leadership, they'll fail again.

Finn pushed himself off the bed, took his shirt off the hook and slipped it on. He opened the door and walked towards the bathroom. He picked up his toothbrush and began to brush his teeth.

"So, you're leaving too?"

Finn chocked and spit out, splattering toothpaste all over the mirror. He looked into the reflection at Kurt.

"You promised you won't do that anymore."

Kurt folded his arms and hugged them tight into his chest. "So, are you leaving?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, back to college," Finn turned around, "Why would that surprise you, I only came back home for you." Finn brushed past Kurt and downstairs to the kitchen.

"I don't need company, Finn. I've lived here my whole life."

"Well, Mum and Dad are gone, have to take care of the house too." Finn poured cornflakes into a bowl and pushed it towards Kurt. "You look like a mess."

Kurt dragged a chair towards him and sat down, swiping the bowl of the table. "You know why. Pass the milk."

Finn grabbed a chair to sit down, opposite of Kurt, who had began munching slowly as he placed a spoon full of cereal into his mouth. "I have a confession," Finn looked up and waited until Kurt had achieved eye contact, "I kinda told Blaine off when he told us he was gonna... you know."

"So, you meeting them at BreadStix?" Kurt said, changing the subject.

"Yeah, everyone's going right?" Finn stared at Kurt's downcast head, feeling guilty about his attempt for forgiveness.

"Brittany's stuck at MIT, that's all I know." Kurt mumbled, throwing his bowl into the sink. "Everyone else should be there."

Finn stared on as Kurt stood by the sink, hands grabbing the edge of the table, seemingly starring into an abyss.

"I should get to McKinley," Finn got up and waited for a response.

"You should," Kurt said, after a long pause.

**Glee**

"Finn, I wanted to talk to you," Mr. Schuester grabbed Finn and pulled him into the auditorium.

"What?" Finn glanced at his watch.

"Don't worry, Glee doesn't start until a half hour," Mr. Schue walked down the steps, towards the stage. "I just wanted to ask you about my offer."

Finn didn't move a step. He looked down at the files he had, files full of song lyrics and sheet music.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't think I can do this, Mr. Schue."

Mr. Schuester paused and look at Finn. His best student has once again let himself down due to self-doubt. He had to be honest, he was a little let down. He walked back up the stairs and placed a hand on Finn.

"There's no one better qualified." Saying that, he rushed back down the stairs. "You inspire them, Finn. They truly enjoyed you being their teacher."

"I've only started learning to be a teacher," Finn said, following Mr. Schue.

"And you were an amazing one before you even started."

"Yeah, but..."

"You have improved so much over the years, Finn. Guide them into your footsteps and you will not have any problems."

Mr. Schuester looked back up to Finn, his expression still unconvinced.

"You remember when I first started teaching Glee? I lead performances with all of you in the choir room."

"Yeah, all your rapping," Finn said, slowly starting to understand Mr. Schuester's point.

"Do the same for them."

"Rapping? I can't rap."

"It doesn't have to be rapping," Mr. Schuester finding himself way too patient for his own liking, he's always like this around his students, not so with adults. "Just, anything you are comfortable with."

Finn fumbled through his file, "Like this song!" he passed a piece of paper to Mr. Schue, smiling.

Mr. Schuester looked at it and smiled. "Sing it!"

"What?"

"Go on, inspire me."

"Okay..." Finn grabbed back the piece of paper and walked towards the stage. He looked down at the lyrics for a while and turned back up to look at Mr. Schue. "Do you have music?"

"There's always YouTube." Mr. Schue plugged his phone into an X-Mini speaker and waited. The music blasted throughout the auditorium and he stretched an arm out towards Finn, signaling for him to begin.

_Finn  
__We'll do it all  
Everything  
On our own_

_We don't need  
Anything  
Or anyone_

Finn feels the lyrics taking effect as he thinks of the best thing to connect the lyrics with. Unexpectedly, but kind of expected, he thought of Rachel. The time they sent together. The good times they had. And the bad.

_Finn__  
All that I am  
All that I ever was  
Is here in your perfect eyes  
They're all I can see_

Mr. Schuester stared on at Finn, listening to the words, filled with emotions and he just knew that Finn was right for the job. His singing has improved so much and now, with emotion set in it, he was his best.

_Finn__  
If I lay here  
If I just lay here  
Would you lie with me  
And just forget the world?_

Mr. Schue stood up and clapped, laughing as Finn smiled at him.

"Told you you could do it."

**Glee**

"Oh, you are not gonna like that," Mercedes wailed, laughing at the top of her lungs. Everyone was too. It's been so long since the original New Directions had gathered to just, sit down and chat.

"Ok, ok, but how..." Mike Chang started.

"Quinn!" Rachel jumped up and rushed to the door, smothering Quinn with a hug just as she walked into BreadStix.

"Hey sista," Mercedes grabbed Quinn by the elbow and sat her down on one of the cushion seat. Now everyone was there, except Brittany, who was still stuck in MIT.

"So, what's going on with you people?"

"Wow, Quinn starting to take an interest in others," Santana laughed, "When the hell did that happen?"

"Come on Santana, be nice." Tina, obviously still bitter, and highly jealous of Santana, piped up. Santana had overshadowed her many a time in Glee Club. And she won't dare to admit that it has made her resent Santana a lot. A whole lot.

Puck raised his glass and announced, "To the new head of New Directions."

Everyone raised theirs, smiling towards Finn, except Quinn who had no idea what was going on. Artie, who was sitting beside her, had to fill her in, before she giggled and lifted her cup up as well.

They toasted and gulped down their drinks, praising Finn on his new job.

"It's no big deal, guys, really," Finn said, blushing with embarrassment over the attention he got.

"Speaking of big deals, how's the new engagement, Kurt?" Quinn sounded way too excited for her own good. Kurt looked at her in shock and sunk back into his seat, his excitement for Finn washed away in an instant.

"Yeah, how'd Blaine propose?" Mike eagerly sat up, demanding an answer.

But everyone else at the table was silent. Everybody already knew about the situation, except Quinn and Mike apparently. Quinn looked around in confusion, "What's wrong?" Obviously, it never occurred to her that Kurt had said no. To her knowledge, their nasty break-up in New York had never happened. Same goes for Mike.

Artie leaned in to whisper into Quinn's ear while Mercedes caught Mike up to speed. The looks of guilt hit their faces immediately and Mike slouched to sip his drink, trying to avoid the awkwardness.

"In other news!" Puck chimed, breaking the eerie tension between the group. "Finn went on a date with some new chick in McKinley."

"What?" Mike spat his drink out, leaving splats of pink lying across the table.

"To Prom," Puck confidently said, happy that he managed to change the subject so successfully.

Finn, on the other hand, wasn't too ecstatic about the change in subject.

"How the hell did I not know about this?" Santana exclaimed, "Oh, you've gots to tell us."

"It's got to be that Kitty girl, right? She's H. O. T. Hot."

"Puck, just because you dated her, doesn't mean Finn would," Quinn said, tapping on Puck's hand.

"You dated that vixen?" Santana, once again, louder than ever.

"Not Kitty!" Finn shouted, just to calm everyone down.

He then noticed that Rachel was being very quiet. As quiet as Kurt had been the entirely conversation.

Seeing that interrogating Finn would get them nowhere, Santana turned to Tina and Artie. "Little spies, what has you got for us?" She leaned back on the cushion seat and crossed her arms, acting like a little miss detective herself.

Tina could feel the blood rising to her head. She had nothing to say at all.

"Well," Artie said, but was quickly silenced by an anxious Tina. Tina had already seen Rachel's expression and really did not want to get into anymore drama.

Santana leaned onto the table and pointed a finger at Tina. Through squinting eyes, she stared into Tina's soul. And all Tina could do was sit there, petrified.

"Santana, what are you doing?" Quinn asked.

Suddenly, Santana just jumped up from her seat, narrowly knocking down her glass of diet coke. "Oh my god, it's Frankenstein and Asian Berry! This is disgusting!" She threw her napkin onto the table and slipped past Rachel to head to the bathroom. "I'm gonna barf. It's gonna take a while, because this is extremely disgusting."

The whole table had erupted into shock, questioning Finn and Tina with their might.

"Did you sleep with her?" Puck asked, a bit too eagerly for Finn's comfort.

"What? No!" Finn pushed Puck away, disgusted at the thought.

Finally, after a whole lot of commotion, Tina shouted,

"It was just a date to the Prom, shut the hell up!"

Everyone piped down and looked between Finn and Tina. The whole situation at the table just became way more awkward.

"Woah, what's this quiet, what the hell happened?" Santana pushed past Rachel again to take her seat back, looking back at the Finn and Tina.

"Let's sing a song." Puck said, out of the blue. It's not like him to ever suggest anything like that, but it probably is just the only way he could think of to ease the tension. Again.

"We're in a restaurant," Mercedes asserted, questioning Puck's state of mind.

Mike turned around and looked at the whole restaurant. "It's near closing time anyway. No one around. Why not?"

"You just miss singing don't you?" Quinn said as she looked through Puck's iPod.

"I think we've sung enough for a lifetime," Artie joked, earning him laughs from everyone at the table, including Kurt and Rachel.

"No, let's do it," Rachel said, still looking from Finn to Tina continuously, "we haven't sung together in years."

Quinn placed the iPod on the middle of the table and pressed play. And soon, BreadStix was filled with harmonious voices.

_Rachel  
__Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes_

_Santana__  
Five hundred twenty-five thousand journeys to plan_

_Mercedes__  
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes_

_Mercedes and Quinn__  
How do you measure the life of a woman or a man?_

_Puck__  
In truths that she learned_

_Kurt__  
Or in times that he cried_

_Finn__  
In bridges he burned_

_Tina__  
Or the way that she died_

The ten members of the New Directions sang together and laughed. It's been a year since they felt the close bond of music, since they felt like a family.

_Mike, Artie and Santana  
__It's time now  
To sing out  
Though the story never ends_

_Everyone  
__Let's celebrate  
Remember a year in the life of friends_

**Glee**

Kurt walked about his room silently. Picking up everything he had unpacked a week ago. A week isn't that long. When he came back to visit, he had thought that a week was too short. Now, he see he was wrong. It was too long.

"Just packing and leaving?" Finn appeared learning on Kurt's doorway.

"Well, you're heading back to your dorm in college too," Kurt muttered, still sore about the whole Blaine incident, "I saw your packed bags."

"I'm not leaving till Wednesday."

"Say hi to Dad and Mum for me then." Kurt zipped up his luggage and rolled it out of the room, accompanied by Finn.

"The rest of us are going back to McKinley tomorrow."

"I'm not going, Finn."

Finn tried to hide his disappointment. Seeing his brother like this tore him to pieces. But there was nothing he could do. He had tried to stop Blaine from doing it, but obviously Blaine was too over his head. And now Kurt's suffering.

"Have fun."

"You're going back by yourself?"

"Rachel's coming too. She had Funny Girl rehearsals you know." Kurt said, no emotion in his voice at all. He just sounded like a dull robot.

"Yeah, right."

Finn slotted his hands into his pocket and watched Kurt move out the door. Kurt carried his luggage down onto the street and waved goodbye to Finn.

"Congratulations, by the way."

Finn looked at his brother for a good long while, thinking of something to say to comfort him. But he knew nothing would.

"Thanks," Finn said, and closed the door.

* * *

**Author's Comments: **Next episode will be an original episode featuring a Sugar and Joe storyline! Since they didn't appear at all in S5, and disappeared without a trace, I just felt that they needed something.

**Songs:  
**Chasing Cars by Snow Petrol sung by Finn  
Seasons Of Love by Cast of Rent sung by Rachel, Finn, Artie, Tina, Mercedes, Kurt, Quinn, Puck, Santana and Mike


	4. Chapter 4

**Glee S5 AU  
Episode 4  
The Important Question**

* * *

**Storylines:**  
Sugar and Joe: Sugar thinks about leaving Glee Club while Joe finds a way to convince her to stay  
Finn and Tina: After being referred to as a couple by some of their friends, Finn and Tina try to find out what their relationship really is.

* * *

_Blaine and Marley__  
__Take me home tonight__  
I don't want to let you go 'til you see the light  
Take me home tonight  
Listen honey, just like Ronnie sang_

_Jake and Marley__  
__Be my little baby__  
Be my little baby_

_Blaine__  
Just like Ronnie sang  
I said just like Ronnie sang_

_Santana and Puck  
__Be my little baby  
Baby my darling_

The members of New Directions got up to join the alumni, singing along to their song. Mercedes has suggested singing a song to inspire the Glee club to come up with song choices for their Nationals competition and she had picked one hell of a song. The alumni and the current New Directions pranced around the choir room, singing along to the music.

_Mercedes and Sam__  
Take me home tonight  
I don't want to let you go 'til you see the light  
Take me home tonight_

_Mercedes and Artie__  
__Take me__  
Take me home tonight_

"Wow, you guys have improved a lot!" Quinn exclaimed, shouting above the applause.

"Thank you!" Kitty blushed, grabbing her skirt so tightly out of nervousness. She's still not so calm seeing Quinn Fabray. It wasn't love, of course. Just sheer admiration.

Mr. Schue looked around the choir room, elated at the thought of his old and new students bonding. But the head count was just off.

"Has anyone seen Joe and Sugar?" He asked, looking around for them.

"I think I saw Joe when we came in," Mercedes said, also looking around for the quiet Christian, although he doesn't talk much, his hair does always give him a huge presence, him missing was just weird, "He said something about Sugar."

"I'll go find him, Mr. Schue," Sam rushed out the door, with Mercedes and Quinn following behind.

As the other members of the Glee club looked on as the trio left, Mr. Schuester turned to the whiteboard. "Okay, let's continue with the brainstorming."

Tina raised her hand up high. And even though they were stretched up all the way, it was still blocked out of Mr. Schuester's sight by everyone else. It was only when everyone got back to sitting down did see Tina. By then, she was alone standing in the middle of the choir room with her hands up. Tina turned around to see everyone seated down before rushing back to her seat, blushing hot red.

"More Than A Feeling," Tina shouted out with glee, after Mr. Schue signalled to her for an answer.

"Oh man, I love that song!" Finn burst out.

"Wow, you two are so fit to be together," Santana said, scratching her head, even with the obvious sarcasm, it still made Finn and Tina shift uncomfortably in their seats.

"I agree with Finn, that's an amazing song," Mr. Schuester wrote the title of the song onto the board, "But we would need to find a strong female lead."

"You're not going to ask Santana, right?" Tina rolled her eyes. Before realising Santana was in the room.

"Relax, girl-Chang, he's not Finn."

**Glee**

"To leave or not to leave," Sugar played around with the apple on the table, looking from it to Joe continuously, "That is the question."

"That sounds familiar," Joe commented.

"Perez Hilton, heard of him? It's not the exact words, but what the hell."

"You shouldn't leave a club that cares so much about you," Joe put his hand on Sugar's, allowing the apple to fall off the table.

"Oh please, they don't even know when I'm not there." Sugar opened up her purse and placed another apple on the table. She has the strangest things in there. "Besides, I can't sing, what's the point."

"You've stayed for a year, I'm sure..."

"I stayed for Rory. He's gone now."

Joe stayed silent for awhile, not knowing what to say to make Sugar feel better. Any mention of God would make Sugar turn and walk away from the table immediately, and honestly, the only comforting words and phrases he could come up with were all from the bible. "God brought you into Glee club for a reason" is what he wanted to say so badly, but Sugar would just come up with some sarcastic remark that'll leave both of them less than happy.

"I keep in touch with him, you know. He says he missed this place but it's just hell here. No one wants to talk to the rich girl."

"People in New Directions talk to you. Blaine made you the treasurer of the Student Council, right?"

"Because I'm rich. He threatened to take me off because, for some reason, I'm 'splurging' money," Sugar said, angrily smashing the apple onto the table, splattering juice all over Joe, "at least I don't spend so much on lousy hair gel."

Joe opened his mouth to talk, but it seemed like Sugar has had enough. She clearly hasn't made up her mind about leaving but she does seem to think no one cares about her. She takes out another apple out of her purse while Joe wonders why she carries so many apples.

"Oh, look, here comes your God squad thing. I'll leave you alone while they come get you and not me." Sugar moaned, taking her purse and walking away, leaving the new whole apple and the squashed one on the canteen table.

"Joe! Where were you during Glee?" Sam ran towards his friend, worried sick.

"I was talking to Sugar," Joe sadly stated, "she's thinking about leaving Glee club."

"About time," Mercedes groaned.

"What? She loved New Directions!" Quinn gasped.

"She doesn't feel wanted."

"Well, let's make her feel wanted!" Sam exasperated, not seeing the severity of the situation. Then again, every single girl in Glee club has threatened to leave before, some actually did.

"How?"

"God Square style," Mercedes beamed, "Sam, grab your guitar. Joe, go find Sugar."

"Are we singing to her?" Joe asked, looking very lost.

Within minutes, Sam had grabbed his guitar and they had located Sugar.

"What are you doing?" Sugar asked irritably.

"Just, sit down and listen, okay?" whispered Quinn.

Sam started strumming his guitar and singing.

_Sam__  
Looking through my old drawer  
Came across the letter you wrote_

_Sam and Quinn__  
__Said you needed time away__  
That was so long ago_

_Joe and Mercedes  
__All my life, I've waited  
To see your smile again  
In my mind, I've hated  
Not able to let go_

"Stop," Sugar shouted, "Stop!"

Surprised by the sudden turn of events, Sam abruptly stopped playing. And the rest of the God Squad was left there speechless.

"This means nothing to me," Sugar rolled her eyes and walked away, leaving Joe dumbfounded.

"What do we do now?" He looked around at the clueless faces of his friends. He couldn't just give up now.

**Glee**

The bell rang and every member of the Glee club rushed out of the room. Alumni, similarly, piled out too, chatting and laughing. Finn walked up to join them but Tina grabbed his hand and held him back.

"Finn," Tina lowered her voice as she dragged him back into the back of the room, "I think we need to address the elephant in the room."

"What elephant?"

"It's a metaphor."

Just then Puck stuck his head into the room and laughed. Then he gave Finn a big thumbs up with an all too joyous face before leaving completely. Tina couldn't stand it anymore.

"I can't stand all these teasing they're doing, can't you tell them to stop."

"Why can't you do it, they're your friends too, you know," Finn said, placing his bag back onto the piano. He dragged a seat in front of Tina and sat down.

"By 'them', I mean Puck," Tina carefully laid it out for Finn, "He's getting on my nerves."

"Okay, I'll just tell him that there isn't anything between us," Finn said, albeit too casually for Tina to accept.

"Is there?" Tina laughed, hoping to lengthen the conversation. Asking Finn to stay back just for a minute worth of conversation was far too strange, she had to lengthen it somehow.

Finn had just gotten out of his seat, but upon hearing Tina's words, sat back down immediately, with an expression of grave seriousness. "You feel it too?" His face had hope on it, which weirded the hell out of Tina.

"What?" She was stunned. That wasn't the response she had been looking for.

"You," Finn said, uncomfortably looking around the room, but no denying the slight excitement he had in his voice, "feel the same way about me too?"

Oh, gosh, this isn't happening, Tina thought. But some part of her felt exhilarated. It's been long since someone felt something towards her. "Oh," was all she could come up with. Maybe, was what she wanted to say, but she couldn't. Finn had hidden his crush on her very well. Very well meaning no one knew, at all.

The silence sucked up the smile that was on Finn's face and he hastily jumped up from his seat. He pushed the chair back and grunted. "Erm, sorry, that was just awkward."

"Yeah," Tina said, chuckling to fill in the gaps and sub-consciously twirling her hair. She cleared her throat and smiled, "Well, I should get going."

Tina was halfway out the door when Finn stopped her, "One song," he said. Tina swung around and stared at him. "One song, just to see if there's anything," he muttered, "here." He awkwardly gestured around the room.

Tina pursed her lips and looked around. "Okay!" She said, shrugging her shoulders. The whole atmosphere was just too weird and Tina could feel relief spread throughout her body when she left the room. She really had no idea how she felt.

**Glee**

"No wonder he insisted on going to Prom with you," Artie deduced, sipping from his cup of strawberry juice.

"So, what are you going to do?" Blaine asked, concerned about his friend.

"I don't know," Tina murmured, "I don't even know what to think. I mean, he's nice."

"Oh my God, I can't deal with this love drama again," Sugar groaned, getting up from her seat and leaving her apple on the table.

"She's still upset about Rory leaving," Artie explained, "it's been half a year, you would think she had gotten over it."

"What am I going to do!" Tina exclaimed, dropping her head down onto the table before howling out in pain.

"Well, Finn's been harbouring this crush on you since the start of year, so," Sam started.

"Since the start of year? How do you know?" Tina shrieked.

"He needed a confidant," Sam shrugged.

"A lousy one," added Artie, looking at a nodding Sam. "It's that time when Tina just burst out at him when he was announced as our new coach, right?"

"I think it was after that," Sam said, taking a bite out of Sugar's apple.

Suddenly, Joe appeared, slipping into the seat Sugar had gotten out of. He gestured for the four seniors to listen in close. He quietly whispered to the quartet about Sugar's situation. And then spent the next five minutes listening to the four's expressions of shock and betrayal.

"We have a plan," Joe said.

Artie cocked his head to the left, showing his interest.

"Quinn and the others are leaving tomorrow, right? So we're going to throw a surprise for Sugar," Joe explained, "We're singing her favourite song."

"You think that would work? I mean, she was so angry when we sung to her," Sam bit his lips. One angry Sugar was enough.

"It's her favourite song, plus if we're all there, maybe she'll really feel important."

"Sounds like a plan," Blaine mused.

"Artie," everyone turned around to see Kitty behind them, "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Artie looked back at his friends and wheeled away, scared at the reasons why Kitty would want to talk to him so urgently.

Kitty grabbed Artie's chair from behind and wheeled him out of the canteen. They entered the astronomy class room, which had planets dangling from the ceiling and Kitty sat down, opposite to Artie.

"If you're breaking up with me," Artie cleared his throat.

"No, I'm not."

Kitty grabbed his hands and stared him dead in the eye. Artie couldn't make out what she was thinking, but she looked excited.

"I'm quitting the Cheerios," she said, holding up a hand to stop Artie from protesting, "I don't care about my reputation anymore. I got you."

Artie was ecstatic beyond means, but he felt guilty. Real guilty.

"You don't have to quit the Cheerios, you know."

"Oh, thank God, because I didn't want to." She laughed and leaned back onto the chair. "So, want to have lunch tomorrow after school?"

"You know I'd want to," Artie beamed.

"Great, another happy couple."

Kitty and Artie's head turned towards the door, looking directly at Tina. Tina panicked and hastily walked away, carelessly tripping over herself as she rushed away.

**Glee**

"You can't put me in detention, Mr. Schue," Sugar leapt to keep up with Mr. Schuester's pace, "I have contributed so much to Glee Club."

"You're not in any trouble," Mr. Schuester carefully explained, "I just want you to attend one more session, okay?"

Sugar rolled her eyes and took out her purse. "How much do you want?"

If it had been anyone else, Mr. Schuester would have felt really insulted, but this was Sugar, and well, her level of comprehension is faltering.

"Just a visit to the choir room, okay?"

They rounded a corner and Mr. Schuester dragged Sugar into the room. The alumni and the members of New Directions stood together, with smiles plastered on their faces as Sugar walked in. Finn closed the door behind him and Sugar spun round, terrified.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Relax, take a seat," Mr. Schuester said, ushering her to a nearby chair.

"You said you didn't think we cared," Marley soulfully suggested, "We wanted to show you that we did."

"Yeah, you meant so much to the club, Sugar." Artie mentioned, with several other members nodding their heads.

"We just want to let you feel like you have family," said Ryder.

Right after Sugar took her seat, Joe and Puck took out their guitars and Tina went to the piano.

_Joe  
__Say, won't you stay  
We can talk about nothing at all  
Or sit here and make up the words  
As we go along_

The rest of the Glee club hummed along, providing a harmonious medley backing Joe's vocals up.

_Joe  
__They told me  
Maybe she's crazy a little like you  
Everyone said you were nothing but trouble  
All that I know  
Is that I've never been here before_

Everybody started walking up to Sugar, surrounding her as Joe serenaded her, singing one of Sugar's favourite songs ever. Sugar looked on, feeling just as awkward as she felt touched. She wasn't used to this much attention outside home.

_Joe  
__And it hurts, to know,  
There was somebody out there as strange and  
As beautiful, as you  
If I'd known sooner_

Joe strummed the last note on the guitar and put it down, and the members of the Glee club took their cue to hug Sugar. Sugar was left there crying and laughing as the everyone piled onto her, surrounding her from all sides. And in that moment, she finally felt like she belonged again.

**Glee**

"Thank you," Sugar said, suddenly appearing where Joe had just closed his locker door.

"For what?" Joe smiled.

"You know," she replied, hitting Joe on the shoulder.

Sugar had been all smiles the whole day after Joe had sung to her with everyone else. And that hasn't changed a day later. She's still beaming like the Sun.

Sugar took her books from the locker beside Joe's and grabbed his arm, leading him away to class. They were completely unaware of Finn and Tina watching them leave.

"Look at her, she's so happy now," Tina commented, "She's hardly ever been like this."

Finn pursed his lips together. He wanted to bring up the whole song thing again but could not find the courage to do so. But he had to head back to college in a half hour so it was a now or never situation for him.

"Look, Finn, I know what you're thinking," Tina spun round to look Finn in the face, but it seemed to be towering out of view, "I look around and see all these happy couples everywhere in school, and I just want one too."

Hope spread across Finn's face, but again, Tina had the dreaded task to put him down once more.

"But that'll be unfair to you. It wouldn't be true," Tina laid her hand on Finn's, who clearly didn't understand her logic, so she had to come up with something else, "Plus, I'll just probably be a Rachel rebound anyway."

"I'm not with Rachel anymore, Tina," Finn sounded more disappointed than ever before.

"But you still love her."

Finn looked away, wondering if that was true. Tina knows it was, but Finn's just not ready to admit it anyone. Himself, even.

"You promised me a song, though," Finn finally said after a long pause, and brought Tina into a nearby classroom. He took out his phone and set it onto the table.

"Lyrics' on the screen."

Tina couldn't help but chuckle. "Okay," Finn hadn't chosen a completely romantic song, which was fine by her, but it was still somewhere around that level that made her slightly uncomfortable.

_Finn  
__I remember what you wore on our first day  
You came into my life  
And I thought hey  
You know this could be something_

Tina bent over the table, looking at the lyrics on the tiny screen, she had never heard this song before.

_Finn  
__But there's so much time, to figure out the rest of my life  
And you've already got me __coming undone__  
And I'm thinking two, is better than one_

_Tina  
__I remember every look upon your face_

_Finn and Tina  
__The way you roll your eyes, the way you taste  
You make it hard for breathing_

Tina covered her mouth in shame, apparently singing lines she shouldn't have been. And Finn let out a chuckle, making Tina feel even more embarrassed, making her laugh along.

_Finn and Tina  
__And maybe it's true, that I can't live without you  
Well maybe two is better than one_

Tina looked at Finn, whose singing so confidently and looking at her back. Maybe there is something here, she thought. But she didn't know. It's just two friends sharing a fun time singing a new song, she thought, however it still felt like something more.

_Finn and Tina  
__There's so much time, to figure out the rest of my life  
And I've figured out with all that's said and done  
Two, is better than one_

Two is better than one.

"That's a nice song," Tina blurted out, before mentally kicking herself for saying something so lame.

"Yeah, thanks," Finn said, keeping his phone back into his pocket.

"So, how do you feel?"

"You're probably right," Finn said, the words more crushing than Tina expected, "It's just some stupid crush, I'll get over it." He stood up, preparing to leave for college. "You remember that time Rachel had a crush on Mr. Schue?"

Tina let out a nervous laughter, forcing herself to act natural. But after Finn left she just felt a sense of longingness in her heart. Maybe she did feel something more. But she just doesn't want to admit it just yet, to anyone, including herself.

* * *

**Songs:**  
Take Me Home Tonight by Eddie Money sung by Blaine, Marley, Jake, Santana, Puck, Mercedes, Sam and Artie  
Come Back To Me by Janet Jackson sung by Joe, Quinn, Sam and Mercedes  
Pretend by Scott Porter and the Glory Dogs sung by Joe  
Two Is Better Than One by Boys Like Girls feat. Taylor Swift sung by Finn and Tina


	5. Chapter 5

**Glee S5 AU  
Episode 5  
A Katy or a Gaga**

* * *

**Storlines:  
**Jake and Marley: They struggle to find common ground on their relationship

* * *

It's been a day since Marley had ruined "the Katy"'s rendition of Lady Gaga's Applause. And everyone still seems mad at her. She had passed by Sam in the hall and he didn't even open his mouth so comically wide like he did any other day to make her smile. In her heart, she knew what she did was right, she stayed through to herself, but Mr. Schuester was also right, she should've at least told her group mates first.

"If you're uncomfortable, that's understandable," Mr. Schuester had said, "But we're performers and we aim to get out of our comfort zones, and you should've told your team mates if you're going to change the plan."

Now, she's been suspended from Glee club for a week. Finn had come up to her that day to apologise for the harsh punishment but Marley was just too frustrated.

"Hey," Jake hugged Marley from behind as she was deep in thought. And the feeling of Jake's arms around her swooned her. "Feeling better?"

"A little bit," Marley chuckled, giving a small peck onto Jake's cheek.

"I know how to make you feel a little better," Jake said, placing his hands on Marley's hip, "Want to come over for dinner? I can cook."

"You can cook?" Marley asked jokingly. She has never heard about Jake cooking before. "Like, actually cook?"

"Yes, actually cook." He hung his arm around Marley's back, letting it rest on her petite shoulders.

"Sure, I'll just stop by the cafeteria and tell my Mom, okay?"

"And while you do that, Jake and I need to talk," Bree appeared from behind them, pushing a student onto the floor as she did.

Marley bit her lips. Both Jake and her knew that Bree could only mean trouble after her run in with Kitty and Tina. But she didn't know what to expect.

"Relax, girl with fat Mom," Bree turned her head and set her sharp eyes onto Jake. "I just have a proposition. The Cheerios need a new choreographer for our performance in next week's assembly. I assume you can help out?"

Jake looked from Bree to Marley, and instantly knew that this was a bad idea. Bree definitely have an ulterior motive. Her eyes had been set on Glee club ever since Prom.

"Flattering," Jake took a small bow of his head, "But I would have to decline."

"Why?" Marley spoke up, to Jake's surprise, "You love dancing, if it's something you want to do, go ahead." Her warm smile wavered Jake and he accepted. But there were doubts filling his head and he was not sure if Marley had realised the position he was in now.

As Bree turned to walk away with several other Cheerios following her, Cheerios that Marley and Jake didn't notice before, Jake turned on Marley. "Don't you think this is a bad idea, I mean, it's Bree."

"Don't worry, I trust you," Marley leaned in and kissed Jake again, before pulling him by the arm and begin walking towards the cafeteria again.

"Jake!"

Jake turned around to see Unique standing at the lockers, half panting. Tina and Kitty running behind her, trying to catch up. They stopped where Unique was, bending down and catching their breathes.

Upon catching a glimpse at Jake's confused expression, Kitty muttered under her breathe, "She runs really fast in heels."

"Rehearsal, now!" Unique waved a finger at him and turned to walk away, dragging Tina and Kitty behind her.

**Glee**

_Jake and Tina__  
__I'm wide awake_

_Kitty__  
__ Thunder rumbling_

_Jake and Tina__  
__I'm wide awake_

_Unique__  
Castles crumbling_

_Jake and Tina__  
__I'm wide awake_

_Tina__  
__I am trying to_

_Jake and Tina__  
__Hold on_

Marley opened the door to the back of the auditorium to take a peek. She had pressed her ears against the metal door for quite a while, but just hearing the voices was not good enough for her. Mr. Schuester didn't seem to see her, so she just walked in and hid behind the last row of seats. The four performers on stage seemed to have noticed her, but it didn't disrupt their performances at all. They flashed a smile as Marley waved to them.

_Jake and Kitty__  
You know I'm letting go tonight _

_Unique__  
Yeah, I'm ready to go, I'm_

_Jake and Tina__  
I'm falling from cloud nine_

_Jake, Kitty, Tina, and Unique__  
__I'm wide awake_

The lights in the auditorium dim out and Marley looked behind her to see Lauren Zizes in the control room. Lauren held a thumbs up and then turned around to leave the control room. Marley wasn't sure if Lauren had seen her.

"Guys, that was amazing!" Finn jumped up from his seat, clapping along to the other's applause.

"We know," Tina mused, walking back to her seat. Mr. Schuester walks to the front to address the New Directions, making Marley drop flat onto the floor to avoid being caught. After what seems like an hour of talking, a pair of feet appears right in front of Marley's face. Marley looks up to see Jake.

"You look prettier when you're vertical," he joked, "Ready to go?"

"Yeah!" Marley laughed, grabbing Jake's hands and getting up. She wiped the dust from her dress.

"You look beautiful," Jake whispered under his breath.

He tugged Marley close and kissed her. Marley grabbed Jake's waist and pushed back. She felt Jake's hand crawl up her back, tickling her as it went. She moved forward, pushing them both onto the ground. Jake let out a little laugh, before leaning up to kiss her again. Suddenly, Marley felt a tug on her cardigan. She pulled herself away so fast, she fell back onto the floor on her rear.

"Sorry, I'm sorry," Jake put his hands up, "This isn't the place."

Jake got up from the floor and helped Marley up, who was feeling very embarrassed by Jake's actions.

"Jake," Marley stared into Jake's eyes, visibly upset, "It's not about the place."

There was a huge uncomfortable pause that followed. And it took forever before Jake broke the silence.

"Can we have an honest conversation about this?" He sighed. Jake turned around and took a seat on the nearest seat. "The whole point to being boyfriend-girlfriend is that we hang out and spend all this time together so that we can appreciate and trust each other."

"Appreciate and trust?" Marley echoed, "Are you telling me that the only reason you hang out with me and all that is just so you can... touch me?"

"What? No, no, no!" Jake exclaimed, slapping his hand onto his head.

"Then what is it, Jake?"

"I feel like you won't even consider it. Like you don't care that it's bumming me out."

"Well, what do you want me to do? I don't want to be pressured into doing something I don't want to do!" Marley shrieked, crossing her arms and staring down onto the ground.

" Who is pressuring you, Marley? I have been the most patient. The most understanding," Jake got up and grabbed Marley by the arms, trying to get her to look him in the eye, " I mean, I used to stop calling a girl if she didn't let me in her pants after six hours."

"Then go be with one of those girls! Go! Have fun!" She whipped her arms free and pushed Jake away.

"Couple trouble?" A voice came from behind Jake.

Jake whipped around and saw Bree standing at the door.

"I know how that's like," Bree teased.

Marley let out a grunt and pushed past the both of them, storming out the door.

**Glee**

Marley sat alone in the choir room, phone in hand. She had dragged a stool into the middle of the room, such that she was facing a crowd of chairs, where the Glee club members would usually sit. She reached her thumb out to press "play" but hesitated. She placed the phone down onto her lap and closed her eyes. She felt clueless and hopeless. Jake had been one of the few friends she had in this school that she felt she could really trust. She never had friends before coming into this school, and although she finally has some now, she felt used. Maybe I'm just exaggerating, she thought to herself. But Jake's actions had hurt her nonetheless. She picked up her phone and pressed "play".

_Marley  
__I can't believe what you said to me  
Last night when we were alone  
You threw your hands up  
Baby you gave up, you gave up_

I can't believe how you looked at me  
With your James Dean glossy eyes  
In your tight jeans with your long hair  
And your cigarette stained lies

She grabbed her phone tight as she digger her clenched fists into her thighs. Tears streamed down her face, spreading everywhere around her cheeks. She could even feel the salty tears flowing into her mouth.

_Marley  
__I'll never talk again  
Oh boy you've left me speechless  
You've left me speechless, so speechless_

_Marley and Jake  
__And I'll never love again,  
Oh boy you've left me speechless  
You've left me speechless, so speechless_

Marley opened her eyes to see Jake standing in front of her. Jake dragged a nearby stool and sat opposite of Marley. They were face to face, yet there was quite a distance between them.

_Jake  
__And after all the drinks and bars that we've been to  
Would you give it all up?  
Could I give it all up for you?_

And after all the boys and girls that we've been through  
Would you give it all up?  
Could you give it all up?

"No," Marley whispered, pressing "pause" on her phone and getting up from her stool. She wiped the tears off her face using the sleeves of her cardigan. Before Jake could stop her, she grabbed her bag from beside the piano and took off.

"Hey, man, what are you doing here?" Ryder appeared from behind Jake, apparently coming through the other door of the choir room.

"No reason," Jake answered.

"We're heading over to Artie's place, want to come?" Ryder gestured towards the door, where Artie, Blaine and Sam were.

"No, you guys go ahead."

"Oh yeah, you had plans with Marley," Ryder smiled, "We wanted to get Joe, but he's still caught up helping his Dad with Bibles or something." Ryder patted Jake on the back and took off, signalling to the rest of the guys to take off.

Jake paced around the empty choir room, moving chairs around using his foot. He wondered about Marley, what he should do. He wanted to apologise, but somewhere in him, he felt that it should be Marley apologising instead. We're both to blame, he thought, before collapsing onto a chair. Jake hung an arm on his head and shut his eyes.

"Dude, you okay?" Jake opened his eyes to see Sam staring down at him.

"Couldn't leave you here knowing something's up right?" Ryder grabbed a nearby chair and sat beside Jake. "What's wrong?"

Jake studied the faces of the four boys in front of him. He leaned back into his seat and hung his head back again. "Nothing."

"You know, if you want to sleep, I can always ask Penny if you can sleep in the nurse's office." Sam said.

"The nurse's name is Penny?" Artie asked, "I thought Penny was that girl you're dating."

"Guys, I really don't want to talk about it, okay?" Jake moaned, "Go enjoy yourselves."

"Where are you going?" Sam walked forward to grab Jake but Jake knocks his arm away.

"I'm going home, Sam," Jake groaned. Jake then walked out of the room, waving them goodbye without a glance back.

"Déjà vu," said Blaine.

**Glee**

"I just can't believe he would do something like that," Marley grumbled, pressing her hands tighter into each other.

"I told you he was trouble, Marley," Unique boasted, sucking on her lollipop.

"Is that supposed to make her feel better?" Tina snapped, "Look, you have to talk to him. If you're not comfortable doing this, you have to tell him."

Kitty rolled her eyes and walked away. "What's the big deal anyway, it's just sex."

"I'm not comfortable about it," Marley looked up at Kitty, hoping she would understand her point of view, but Kitty probably won't. She turned back to Tina, "I've told him, many times. He says he doesn't have the patience anymore, what do I do?"

"You've had this coming. You know what you got yourself into," Kitty, once again, rolled her eyes.

Tina waved her away, "Look, if Jake truly cares about you, he will wait. He wouldn't let urges take control of him. I mean, when I was with Mike, I was so patient with him, until he was ready to, you know, do it!"

"You mean ex-boyfriend Mike, the one who ditched you right after he said he wouldn't?" Kitty laughed, immediately being waved off by Tina once again.

"You mean you're the sex-crazy one in that relationship," Unique made a face, "You go, girl!" Then she burst out into the most annoying laugh Tina had heard in ages.

"What I'm saying is, if he cares, he will wait," Tina patted Marley on the back.

"I disagree," Kitty walked over to Marley, "He's been spending way too much time with that vixen, Bree. Who knows what they're doing after Cheerios practice every day."

"He's in the Cheerios?" Tina's hand shot up to her mouth.

"No, genius, he's helping us out. But they've been spending so much time together, it's getting suspicious."

"Why is he even helping them?" Unique said, dropping her lollipop onto the floor, "Aw, damn!"

"Oh, no, I told him too!" Marley cried, burying her face into her hands, forgetting about the wet tissues in her hands.

"Okay, that's it, stop crying for Pete's sake," Kitty knocked the tissues out of Marley's hand and grabbed her face, so menacingly it took everyone by surprise. Kitty squished Marley's cheeks together. "You don't let Bree win this love crap. Fight for him." Kitty said, and then after a bit of reconsideration, "But don't give in to the whole sex thing."

"How?" Marley tried to speak but she found it hard to open her mouth while it's being forced open into the shape of an O.

"I don't know, use your innovation," Kitty let go of her face.

Just then Finn and Mr. Schuester walked in.

"Hey, you're early," Finn exclaimed, unjustifiably excited.

"Marley, you're joining us today?" Mr. Schuester asked with sarcasm.

"She's learnt her lesson Mr. Schue," Tina said, walking over to him to have a private talk.

Soon, the whole choir room has been filled with the members of New Direction. Joe was back and Sugar had recovered from her illness, so they were back up to full strength.

"Well, I hope that this week, you guys have..." Finn started, but was immediately interrupted by Mr. Schuester.

"Excuse me, Finn," Mr. Schuester cleared his throat, "After careful deliberation with Mr. Hudson over here."

"Oh god, we're not supposed to call him that right?" Kitty pretended to gag.

Mr. Schuester ignored her and continued, "We declared the 'Gaga's the winners this week, so Tina, Unique, Kitty, Jake, would you like to do the honours?"

Artie leaned in to Blaine's ear and whispered, "Careful." Artie laughed but Blaine simply folded his arms, angry at their loss.

"Thank you, Mr. Schuester," Tina took a mini bow to the crowd, gesturing to her teammates to do the same, "As the winners this week, we thought we would grace you with the honour of hearing us sing another Katy song!"

"She's really beginning to sound like Rachel," Artie whispered to Blaine, "I mean, you're more Rachel than her, but she's catching up." Blaine turned round to give Artie a look, but Artie never saw it.

"It's one of her newer songs, so if you know it, you can sing along," Tina clapped her hands together and went to the band to tell them about her song choice.

Jake talked to Kitty for awhile and then went back to sit with the crowd. "So apparently, Jake's not in the mood to sing 'Unconditionally'," Kitty began, rolling her eyes again, she's so good at it she doesn't miss an opportunity to do it.

"I'll sing with you guys," Marley burst out, raising her hand high up in the air, one look at Mr. Schuester and she realised she hadn't considered her position, "If that's okay?"

Mr. Schuester nodded and Marley stood with the other girls. She shot a determined look to Jake, who sat there in confusion.

_Tina  
__Oh no, did I get too close?  
Oh, did I almost see  
what's really on the inside?_

_Tina and Kitty  
__All your insecurities  
All the dirty laundry  
Never made me blink one time_

_Marley  
__Unconditional, unconditionally  
I will love you unconditionally_

Marley continued her glare at Jake, quickly realising that her stare was more intimidating than sweet. But she had a message to bring across, and this was the perfect opportunity to do so.

_Marley and Unique  
__Unconditional, unconditionally  
I will love you unconditionally  
There is no fear now  
Let go and just be free  
I will love you unconditionally_

_Tina  
__So open up your heart and just let it begin_

_Kitty  
__Open up your heart and just let it begin_

_Marley  
__Open up your heart and just let it begin_

_Unique  
__Open up your heart_

Slowly, Jake began to smile. And upon seeing so, Marley smiled too. She was glad at the thought that they wouldn't be fighting anymore. Everything should be fine, she thought.

_Marley and Tina  
__Acceptance is the key to be  
To be truly free_

_Marley__  
Will you do the same thing for me?_

Jake beamed at Marley and nodded his head. Marley laughed, forgetting her cue to sing and, once again, ruining the song. The band abruptly stopped playing and the other three girls were left dumbfounded as Marley smiled on at Jake.

"Marley!" Tina screamed.

* * *

**Author's comments:** Too much love sappiness for me haha. Next episode's gonna be renamed from End Of Twerk to Troubles, because there won't be any twerking in it.

**Songs:  
**Applause by Lady Gaga sung by Artie, Ryder, Marley, Sam and Blaine  
Wide Awake by Katy Perry sung by Tina, Kitty, Unique and Jake  
Speechless by Lady Gaga sung by Marley and Jake  
Unconditionally by Katy Perry sung by Tina, Kitty, Unique and Marley

**Update:** Next episode may take awhile. Maybe early August? I have examinations :(


	6. Chapter 6

**Glee S5 AU  
Episode 6  
Trouble**

* * *

**Storylines:  
**Unique and Ryder: Constant bullying forces Unique into the comfort of Ryder's arms  
Marley and Jake: Just as their relationship started going uphill once again, Marley finds out that Jake has been cheating on her

* * *

_Unique_  
_If I were a boy  
Even just for a day  
I'd roll out of bed in the morning  
Throw on what I wanted and go_

Unique's face was drenched in tears, and everyone in the choir room could do nothing but watch sympathetically at the broken girl in front of them. Her wig was tilted and her clothes in a mess, a sight that had made Sugar gasp in horror.

_Unique  
__If I were a boy  
I think I could understand  
How it feels to love a girl  
I swear I'd be a better man_

"Isn't she a boy?" Sugar whispered to Joe.

Joe, still uncomprehending Unique's sexuality, simply shrugged his shoulders. Kitty tapped Sugar's head and shushed her.

_Unique__  
I'd listen to her  
'Cause I know how it hurts  
When you lose the one you wanted  
'Cause he's taking you for granted  
And everything you had got destroyed_

Unique stopped as her sobs got the better of her voice. She stood there crying like a fool, and no one but Tina could understand. Tina rushed up from her seat to comfort Unique, placing an arm around her shoulders.

"That's it. We need some names," Ryder stood up, lamely cracking his knuckles.

"Yeah, this has gone on far too long," Sam agreed, getting onto his feet.

"No," Mr. Schuester raised a hand towards Ryder and Sam and calmly said, "Unique, would you come with me, please?"

With that, Mr. Schuester guided a shaking Unique out of the room.

"What the hell was that all about?" Sugar blurted out, "If she wanted to be a guy, doesn't she already have a penis?" Sugar looked towards Kitty for confirmation, to which the only reply she got was a palm to the face.

Tina stared at her with disbelief, and then followed out the door. With Mr. Schuester not around and Finn at college, there was no one in charge in the choir room, so the remaining members of New Directions left in the choir room quietly left.

"Where are all of you going? Glee club isn't over!" Blaine screamed after the leaving teenagers.

Jake waved him off and hung an arm around Marley, leading her out of the room.

After a moment of silence, Marley spoke up into Jake's ears, "I'm worried about Unique."

"We all are," Jake muttered, dismissing the conversation entirely.

Marley dug her head into Jake's chest, pondering over what to do to help her friend. She had no idea what she could do, she had no advice, she had no words of comfort. Unique was her best friend and yet she felt so useless when her friend needed her most.

"Hey, Jake!" Bree whispered from behind the couple, causing both of them to flinch. "I hope you didn't forget about today." She said, toying with his shirt.

Bree took a glance at Marley, raised her eyebrows and walked off.

"You have to choreograph today?" Marley sighed, pulling away.

"Apparently, I'll see you after lunch okay?" Jake took off, following after Bree and Marley was left alone in the hallway.

Marley watched them leave with a frown on her face. She turned around and saw Kitty and Artie staring at her.

"What are you guys doing?"

"What are you doing?" Kitty cocked her head to the side, folding her arms as she spoke, "You're letting him just run off with Breh?"

"Isn't it Bree?"

"That was on purpose."

Artie rolled in between the girls, "Yeah Marley, isn't she like the bitch of the school now?"

"Now? You mean forever?" Kitty rolled her eyes and laid a hand on Artie's chair to lean.

"I trust Jake," Marley insisted.

"But you don't trust Bree," Kitty held a finger up, "You never trust Bree."

Kitty grab hold of Artie's chair and pushed him away, without saying another word to Marley.

Marley stood there, dumbfounded, before making up her mind and chasing down Jake and Bree.

**Glee**

"Don't worry, you're okay," Ryder whispered, holding a roll of toilet paper in his hands, occasionally handing a piece to Unique.

Unique patted the tears away from her eyes as she looked down onto the ground. She could see her own tears on the concrete floor. "I mean, I know I can't make them accept me for who I am," Unique cried, "People have their own beliefs, I respect that, but you know,"

"They've gone too far," Ryder nodded, tearing off another piece of paper and handing it to Unique. He reached out a hand to pat her on the back.

Unique sniffed and placed the tissues onto the ground beside her. She looked up at the whiteboard at the front of the choir room. "You know, I just did that whole thing to you last time because I liked you."

"Cat-fishing?"

"No, the whole getting all mad at you not calling me a girl thing. I blew it out of proportions, I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, you were right. You're a girl, are you should be respected as one."

Ryder held her hands and swung it around, making Unique smile a little.

"But,"

"No buts," Ryder laughed, "Look, you can't change the world overnight. You're right that people have their beliefs, but if they were as aggressive as they were about it and being disrespectful to your face like I was, then they need to educate themselves."

Unique sniggered, "You just said but."

"I'm sorry," Ryder croaked, raising his hand up to his mouth.

Letting go of Ryder's hand, Unique wiped off the remaining of her tears with the back of her hand and stood up. The two of them sat silently for a long time. Occasional hiccups came from Unique, but that was it.

"You know what? Jerks can be jerks," Unique suddenly walked towards the whiteboard, "But that shouldn't let me down."

She picked up a marker and wrote on the board. It was only when she turned back around and walked over to Ryder did he realise what she wrote.

"Pride."

"Different and proud," Unique stated, taking a seat down beside Ryder.

"You think Mr. Schuester will go with that?"

"He kinda seems to make up lessons two minutes in advance anyway," Unique laughed, causing Ryder to laugh along as well.

They stayed there giggling for a long time, both of them didn't notice how long though. Then, the bell rang.

"You gonna be okay?" Ryder asked.

"Oh please, I've been dealing with this forever. You think a little more over-the-top bullying is going to get me anywhere I've never been before?"

"You're not alone on this."

"I know, I always know. Please, Ryder, I'm not dumb. This isn't my problem, this is the bullies'. If they're so..."

"Close-minded?"

"Yeah! Then that's their problem."

"Still..." Ryder pointed to the board.

"Yeah, I'll erase it," Unique said.

**Glee**

"Okay, Finn and the guys have prepared something, I believe," Mr Schuester announced, looking to Finn for confirmation, "So let's give them a hand."

The whole New Directions were in the auditorium together. It was their weekly scheduled date to use it, and although Mr. Schuester didn't have much planned this week, because of all the Unique drama, they chose to use it anyway.

Finn and the six males of New Directions headed up the stage.

"In light of the situation one of our own is facing, Finn thought that this would be an appropriate song to dedicate to that individual," Blaine spoke into the mike, looking sympathetically at Unique.

Unique smiled, although it was mixed with embarrassment.

_Blaine and Finn  
__All around me are familiar faces  
Worn out places, worn out faces  
Bright and early for their daily races  
Going nowhere, going nowhere_

_Jake and Finn  
__Their tears are filling up their glasses  
No expression, no expression_

_Jake and Ryder  
__Hide my head, I wanna drown my sorrow  
No tomorrow, no tomorrow_

Unique watched as the remaining girls, hugged her tight. Marley in particular was leaning on her shoulder, and Sugar was tying her hair. "Must be nice to have a song dedicated to you," she whispered to Unique, evidently forgetting the events of last year where Rory and Artie fought over her. Unique just waved that comment away, assuming it was jealousy, which it was.

_Sam and Blaine  
__Went to school and I was very nervous  
No one knew me, no one knew me_

_Artie  
__Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson_

_Sam and Artie__  
__Look right through me_

_Artie__  
Look right through me_

_Finn and Joe  
__And I find it kinda funny  
I find it kinda sad  
The dreams in which I'm dying  
Are the best I've ever had_

Unique started tearing up. She doesn't even know why, but she could relate to the song. Almost every word felt like her whole life story, of her story of struggle.

Marley leaned back to see Unique shaking, "Are you okay?"

Unique nodded violently and buried her face into her hands.

The guys walk down from the stage and hugged Unique. After a while, Mr. Schuester and Finn brought Unique out of the auditorium to calm her down.

"The song didn't upset her, right?" Sam asked worriedly.

"No, don't worry," Tina said, "she loved it."

"My turn," Marley spoke out confidently. Everyone turned her head to look at her.

"Unique's already out of the auditorium, if you hadn't realised," Sugar mocked.

"It's not for her," she said bluntly, before walking up onto the stage and whispering to the band.

The rest of the Glee club, wondering what Marley was doing, sat back down in their seats. Marley took a mike from the backstage and walked up to the centre of the stage. She took a deep breathe and looked towards Jake.

_Marley  
__2am, where do I begin,  
Crying off my face again.  
The silent sound of loneliness  
Wants to follow me to bed._

Everyone turned around to look at Jake, who seemed to be just as confused as them. He folded his arms and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Marley just kept staring at him.

_Marley  
__Dancing slowly in an empty room,  
Can the lonely take the place of you?  
I sing myself a quiet lullaby.  
Let you go and let the lonely in  
To take my heart again._

Marley's stare intensifies with hurt. Just looking at her has made everyone in the auditorium feel really uncomfortable. Sugar excused herself and walked out the door, but Marley didn't care at all. Her song was meant for one person and one person only.

_Marley_  
_I'm a ghost of a girl that I want to be most.  
I'm the shell of a girl that I used to know well._

Finishing off her song, Marley flung her hands down and the microphone dropped from her hands. It hit the stage with a thud, which sounded a lot louder than it was in the quiet auditorium. Jake started walking up the stage. Upon seeing that, Marley ran off in tears, covering her face. Jake was left dumbfounded on the stage as he heard the rest of the club leaving the auditorium.

**Glee**

"Unique," Artie wheeled himself towards her, "You look way better!"

"There's no point fretting about it," Unique explained, closing her locker door and walking alongside Artie across the hallway.

"You can't just ignore it either," Artie mumbled.

"They're just uncomfortable, big bullies. They'll learn. Besides, I have amazing friends to back me up when I need it."

Unique stopped in her tracks, pointed a finger back towards her locker and headed in that direction. Artie turned around and pushed to keep up with her. Wow, she really is fast, Artie thought as he looked down, and she's in heels too!

"I almost forgot, I got y'all a little something."

Unique reached into her highly decorated locker of foam and glitter to pull out a purple sack with a golden ribbon around it. The ribbon tied around the opening of the sack, sealing it closed with a pretty bow. Artie, curious, opened up the sack, revealing several mini figurines of each New Directions member inside. He shuffled his hand around and realised that there was one for Brittany, Mr. Schuester and Finn too.

"I wanted to give it out if we had lost Nationals," Unique smiled, "You know, to cheer everyone up."

Ryder walked towards them and noticed the figures, "Yeah, who wouldn't want to play with themselves."

He bent down to pick up the sack from Artie, who seemed pleasantly surprised. Ryder searched around for his, and took his out. "My hair does not look like that."

Unique raised an eyebrow, and Artie just nodded in agreement with her.

"Why now though?" Artie asked.

"You guys have been so supportive of me," Unique turned around to close her locker, "I just felt like giving something back, you know? Just the other day, Blaine, Sam and Ryder defended me when that guy from the Hockey club came over."

"Yeah, that guy was horrible," Ryder grumbled, pushing Artie's chair as the trio walked back down the hall.

"The three of them had my back," Unique placed her hand on Artie's shoulder, "And I know all of you do. I couldn't let that go unappreciated. Excuse me." Unique turned the corner and walked straight into the girl's bathroom. Several girls seem to leave the toilet immediately, but it didn't seem to disturb Unique one bit.

"She's taking this way better than I expected," Artie looked to Ryder who simply nodded his head. "I mean, I never did, with all the bullying."

"She's strong, I guess."

Just then, Tina, Kitty and Sugar walked by the two boys.

"Have you two seen Marley?" Tina asked, her face filled with worry.

Tina, Kitty and Sugar took off immediately after seeing the look of confusion on the other's faces. Unique looked back at Ryder and Artie and shrugged. After a moment's though, she chased after the three girls.

"Wow, she really runs fast in heels," Ryder commented.

"Trudat."

**Glee**

"Marley!" Kitty shouted, running down towards Marley, who was sitting alone in the cafeteria.

Upon seeing the blonde cheerleader charging towards her like a raging ape, Marley sped off. Her tiny legs rocking under her body, Marley turned any corner she could find. She did not want to talk to any one of them right now. Her sudden emotional outburst at Jake earlier was better unexplained.

"Marley!" Tina screamed at the top of her lungs. Marley stopped and backtracked, dashing past student after student, and a teacher who had called her to walk. When she was sure she couldn't hear Tina behind her anymore, she slowed down. Turning back for a glance, she saw Tina being reprimanded by the same teacher.

"Marley!" Marley turned around to see Sugar trotting to her location. Sugar quickened her pace to catch up with Marley, but the girl was ready on her heels. Marley sped down the hallway. She was sure Sugar did not even bother running to catch up with her.

"Marley!" The petite girl turned around in horror as the unmistakable silhouette of Unique surrounded her. Marley ran with all her might, but Unique was too fast. Unique grabbed Marleby the arm and dragged her into a nearby classroom.

"Mind telling me what the hell is going on?" Unique placed her arms on her hips. She didn't appear tired from the chase at all. Meanwhile, Marley was struggling just to regain her breathe.

After helping Marley back into an upright position, Unique continued her questioning.

"It's about Jake, okay?" Marley said exasperatedly.

"Yeah, we all know that," Unique snapped, "Details, girl."

Tina, Kitty and Sugar burst through the door, all clutching their abdomens and breathing heavily.

"You!" Kitty pointed a finger at Marley, "Do not ever do that again!"

Marley ignored her, and turned to face the ground. She did not want to tell them about Jake, because she doesn't want all the pity or 'I told you so's.

"What is it?" Unique demanded, her voice uncharacteristically impatient.

"He's with Bree!" Marley exclaimed, tired of Unique's aggressive behavior.

"What?!" Tina and Kitty couldn't believe their ears.

Sugar looked at all four girls faces, but nothing helped her at all. "Who's that?"

Marley moved to a nearby wall and leaned on it, slowly regaining her composure. "Ever since he started choreographing with the Cheerios, he's stopped complaining about the... sex thing."

"Wasn't that because you settled that situation last week?" Tina, clearly annoyed by Marley's paranoia, asked.

"I saw him choreographing," Marley began to tear up, "He was touching her everywhere."

"I told you, Marley!" Kitty hit her on the shoulder, "That girl ain't to be trusted! You should've just punched her in the face right there and then!"

Marley's tears kept coming down, she couldn't find a suitable reply to anything the other girls are saying. She just stood there dumbly.

Unique rolled her eyes, "Darn, girl, pull yourself together!" She brushed Marley off the table and gave her a look full of annoyance. "Are you really just going to sit here and feel sorry for yourself like dem ladies in the 70s. We're strong women now, we're proud women, and if we want something, we fight for it like strong people do!"

"And that's coming from a girl with a penis!" Kitty mocked, cocking her head backwards.

Sugar stifled a laugh as Unique continued speaking, "Now, you go to that slut of a man, and demand the truth."

"I don't t-think I can," Marley stuttered, "I-I..."

"Remember what I told you?" Kitty grabbed Marley by the hands, "You're Woman Fierce. And no Woman Fierce is going to let some stupid boy ruin her day."

Marley looked at Kitty's hands, and started massaging them between her palms. She didn't say a word and the girls were getting worried.

"You know, all this lovey dovey crap is getting really old," Sugar moaned, sitting on a nearby chair. "Get over it, it's not like your life revolves around some stupid crush."

The girls stare at her as if she were some demon. Tina signalled for her to shut up. This was definitely not the time and place to say that.

"You know what?" Unique swirled around, "I know what will make you feel better." Unique took out her iPhone and laid it on the table. "I wanted to sing this song next Glee club meeting, but I guess I could use a trial run. Care to join me ladies?"

Tina and Kitty took a peek at the iPhone screen and giggled.

"Really?" Kitty shook her head.

"Really." Unique pressed play and dragged Marley across the empty classroom. "Come on, do a li'l dance with me."

Marley smiled a little, "I like this song."

"I know you do," Unique gave her a wink, "Sing along!"

_Unique  
__The best thing about being a woman  
Is the prerogative to have a __little fun_

_Unique and Kitty  
__Oh, oh, oh,  
Go totally crazy  
Forget I'm a lady  
Men's shirts-short skirts  
Oh, oh, oh,  
_

_Unique and Tina__  
Really go wild-yeah  
Doin' it in style  
Oh, oh, oh,  
Get in the action-feel the attraction  
Color my hair, do what I dare  
Oh, oh, oh,  
_

_Marley__  
I wanna be free-yeah, to feel the way I feel_

_Sugar__  
Man! _

_Marley__  
I feel like a woman!_

The five girls run about the classroom, twirling and dancing around. Marley started feeling a whole lot better and started to giggle throughout the song.

_Marley and Kitty  
__The best thing about being a woman  
Is the prerogative to have a little fun_

Marley jumped onto a table and started rocking her head around. Her sudden enthusiasm brought smiles to all the girls' faces. Their friend was finally having a good day. Or, at least a semi-good day.

_Unique__  
I wanna be free-yeah, to feel the way I feel_

_Sugar__  
Man! _

_Unique and Marley__  
__I feel like a woman!_

Marley jumped off the table and landed in Unique's arms. They laughed and laughed, until a class of students walked into the room and stared at them as if they were crazy. And they did look crazy, with the messy hair and all. Sugar had to rush out of the room to avoid the embarrassment.

(line)

**Songs:  
**If I Were A Boy by Beyonce sung by Unique  
Mad World by Tears for Fears sung by Finn, Sam, Blaine, Ryder, Jake, Artie and Joe  
The Lonely by Christina Perri sung by Marley  
Man, I Feel Like A Woman by Shania Twain sung by Marley, Unique, Kitty, Tina and Sugar


	7. Chapter 7

**Glee S5 AU  
Episode 7  
Moving Out Moving On**

* * *

**Storylines:  
**Blaine and Kurt: Blaine tries to woo Kurt back into his life, but Kurt is more interested in another man  
Sam, Artie and Tina: The trio gets advice from their some-what successful seniors

* * *

"Do you even know where we're going?" Tina asked, her eyes darting from her phone to her surroundings every so often.

"Kurt gave me the address not long ago," Blaine said, quickening his pace forward.

"But," Tina said, almost tripping over a crack in the pavement, "Do you know where we are going?"

Blaine shook his head, finally giving in. Sam and Artie quietly followed the duo in front. For Artie, it was just entertaining watching the two bicker.

Sam, who was beginning to feel less eager about Blaine's plan, was starting to question his methods. "You know," he started, "I'm starting to think this isn't going to work."

Blaine whipped around with an annoyed look on his face. "It's gonna work."

"But,"

"Shush," Blaine continue leading them through the bustling city of New York. Sam had trouble navigating Artie around the path as he struggled to catch up with Blaine. Tina was still looking flustered, she was still certain that Blaine had gotten them lost.

"Ah, there it is!" Blaine hopped over to a corner of the street, and there stood a wooden door.

Tina made a move to knock on the door, but Blaine had already slid it open. Apparently, it wasn't locked at all.

"Blaine!" Rachel jumped up from the couch. "Tina! Oh my God, what are you guys doing here?" The Broadway actress rushed over to hug her friends and then dragged them to the couch, greeting Artie and Sam, who had lagged behind.

"It's the weekends, I thought it would be nice to come over," Tina grabbed her bag and pulled it off from her shoulders, setting it down onto the wooden table in front of her.

"Well, I'm sure Santana and Kurt would be pleased to see you guys," Rachel laughed in glee. She offered them a drink and then the five of them started catching up.

"I know Artie's already been offered a place in some Brooklyn film school, right?" Rachel asked, "What about the rest of you?"

"Well, I'm thinking about going to NYADA," Blaine stated. He had expressed interest in applying there before, so it was no surprise to Rachel.

"You know it's really hard to get it, right?" Rachel gave him a sympathetic look, "I only got in thanks to Tina, and Kurt because of me. It's not easy to get a second chance."

"Well," Blaine tried to place his words humbly, "I hope I'll get in the first chance then." He had wanted to say that he would definitely get in the first time, but that was way too arrogant of him.

"I'm actually planning to try out too," Tina butted in, "I've already applied to some universities, and I've been offered a place by three schools, but they were just back-ups."

Tina put down her tea and continued, "I'm really aiming for Brown University, or NYADA of course. Getting into either would really be a miracle."

"Yeah, all these schools are so hard to get into," Rachel leaned back onto her chair.

Suddenly the wooden door slid open again and in comes Kurt and Adam. Just one look at Kurt's face and everyone could tell that he wasn't thrilled to see Blaine at all.

"Wow, are got a whole party here today, eh?" Adam smiled, walking in and taking a seat beside Sam. "Adam Crawford, pleasure to meet you all."

The four New Direction members introduced themselves to Adam, all but Blaine instantly liking him.

"You've just got a pleasant aura or something," Tina mused.

"Thank you," Adam giggled at the supposed compliment.

Blaine coughed and looked towards Artie with determined eyes. Artie, who had been sipping his tea rather quietly, placed it down and darted his eyes around.

"Erm," he nervously started, "We actually came prepared with a performance we wanted to show you guys." His words was so mumbled and choppy, it got Kurt all suspicious.

"Nothing more enjoyable than a musical performance on a Saturday afternoon, is there?" Adam scooted over to make way for the four to move out.

"Yeah, er," Sam laughed nervously, "It was one of the numbers we were preparing for Glee club, but... er..."

"Drama, you know," Tina spoke, way too quickly, "It's New Directions." She laughed. And Rachel giggled along.

The three of them knew that this was a bad idea. Kurt had already suspected that something was up.

"We should wait for Santana," Rachel suggested.

"Wait for me for what?" Santana squeezed through the wooden door, which she only opened slightly. She hung her coat onto the rack beside it before actually getting a good look around the room. "What are you four idiots doing here?"

"They said they prepared a performance, isn't that great?" Adam exclaimed in excitement. Kurt drooped deeper into his couch as he heard this. Blaine had been looking at him the entire time and he just didn't want to see anymore of Blaine's tactics to get him back.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Santana walked to the Kitchen to pour herself a drink, "It's bad enough I'm in a band called Pamela Lansbury, but now I have to hear Nude Erection music again?"

"What's that?" Adam turned to Kurt, who just shook his head.

"You're in a band?" Tina asked.

"Yeah, Kurt over here started one," Santana raised a glass to the already embarrassed looking kid, "It's just him, me, me girl Dani, Adam over here, and some guy called Elliot."

"Pamela Lansbury?" Sam looked confused.

"Also known as Gaytown," Santana smiled, dropping down beside Rachel. "Just get this whole song thing over with, okay? I want to enjoy my Saturday."

The four senior New Direction members looked at each other. The appearance of Santana definitely did not work in their favour. Even after a year, she was still nasty.

"Well," Blaine bit his lip, "We're just singing a song from The Wanted called Show Me Love..."

"Oh, I love that song!" Adam burst out.

"If you like it so much, why don't you join them?" Kurt asked, but Adam didn't catch his sarcasm at all. He was way too optimistic for dark things like that.

Adam walked up beside Artie and gleamed. He then asked Artie which part he should sing. This was an even bigger blow to Blaine's plan, who was beginning to look more anxious. And Kurt, who was so annoyed and pissed off, he had to push his head into a pillow.

_Blaine  
__You should've known I love you  
Though I'll never say it too much_

Santana had to stifle a laugh, because she knew exactly what was going on. Kurt just couldn't bear to look, but he had to as he didn't want to be rude.

_Blaine  
__Now I'm lost in the distance  
You look at me like a stranger  
Cause how it looks right now to me  
Is you're scared of the danger_

_Blaine and Sam  
__I could've shown you America  
All the __bright lights__ of the universe_

Blaine had been looking at Kurt the entire time, but he gave nothing in return. Kurt was just staring at the floor, not giving Blaine the attention he wanted. Rachel on the other hand was gripping Kurt so tightly that Kurt couldn't even leave if he wanted to.

_Blaine  
__All you had to do was show me love_

Kurt let out a little laugh at this part, but immediately caught himself. Blaine, hurt, moved into the background. Kurt felt bad for him at that moment, but then it was Adam's turn to sing and Kurt finally felt himself enjoying the song due to Adam's soulful tone of voice.

_Adam  
__It means I'll fight for the things that are worth it  
If it makes me feel complete_

_Artie  
__Cause I'm hitting rocks, and I'm taking shots  
I'm prepared to lose everything I've got_

_Adam and Tina  
__Now I'm lost in the distance  
You look at me like a stranger  
Cause how it looks right now to me_

_Tina  
__Nothing can save us_

As soon as Blaine and Sam started singing the chorus again, Santana finally looses it. She burst out laughing, accidentally hitting down her glass of water, spilling it all over the floor. Rachel jumped up and yelled. She ran to grab a towel and begin wiping the floor. Everyone scrambled to help, except Blaine, who was just left there feeling lost and defeated.

**Glee**

The food served at Callbacks was mediocre at best. Yet, Rachel, Kurt and Santana seem to go there all the time. The last of them dragged there by the other two all the time. This time, the seven friends sat among the colourful banners draped around the aromatic bar. Blaine had already taken his seat on the piano at the stage, wanting to play and sing a song for Kurt, who could not be more unsupportive of it.

"He's singing All Of Me by John Legend," Artie explained, "He thought you would feel touched."

Kurt went back to sipping his drink. He could not believe the lengths Blaine has gone just to get his attention.

"So, you're working full time at Vogue now?" Tina asked casually, fully aware that all of them were ignoring Blaine's song but didn't want to be the only one paying attention.

"It was either that or continuing at NYADA," Kurt said, "And Ms Tibideaux told me to go. It was a better opportunity for me anyway."

"Yeah yeah, good opportunity for you. Come get me when you two are back to being losers," Santana snapped, flinging her serviette onto the table and making her way to the restroom.

"What's with her?" Sam looked on as Santana left.

"Ignore her," Rachel swivelled around in her seat. "You, know, Tina? I've been thinking."

Tina looked at her in surprise.

"Why don't you try out for that acting school Finn tried for? You wanted to be an actor right? Not saying that you won't get into NYADA, of course, but..."

Tina let out a little laugh, "If Finn couldn't get in, what makes you think I can?"

"It's just to try. I mean, they're one of the few who are still accepting applications, right?"

"Yeah, but..." Tina trailed off.

Sam butted in, "Yeah, you can also ask Finn for some advice. He already auditioned for it once."

"That's really not a good idea," Artie warned, cutting Sam off. Realisation dawned on Sam's face and he shut up about it.

Amidst all her busyness, Rachel had completely forgotten about what happened between Tina and Finn. She could not ask them at BreadStix the other time, because everyone was there. "So, what's going on between you and Finn?"

"It's nothing," Tina muttered. "I hate you," she breathed to Sam, "learn to shut your mouth."

"I can't help it, I have a big mouth," Sam moaned, looking down at his shoes.

"Okay," Rachel wasn't satisfied with the answer at all, but that had to do.

"So, Sam," Kurt piped up from his silence. He felt like he had a duty to ease the tension now. "What are you planning to do?"

Sam pursed his gigantic lips together. He had no idea.

"He had this idea of becoming a model here," Blaine appeared from behind Sam. Blaine grabbed a seat. He was visibly annoyed that none of his friends had been listening to his song. Kurt seemed to have dismissed it completely. "I assume Adam isn't joining us today?"

"He's got something to work on for the Adam's Apples." Kurt turned away, not wanting to look at Blaine at all. Although he just did that to send a message.

"You mean the group he kicked you out of?"

"If you had been paying any attention to anything I've been saying all night, instead of doing ridiculous crap just to get me back," Kurt snapped back, "maybe you would've known that I'm not in NYADA anymore!" Kurt got up from his seat and walked towards the door.

**Glee**

"You know, it's like we're being dragged by Blaine to anywhere he wants to go," Artie whispered to Tina and Sam.

"Yeah, I actually want to go sightseeing a bit," Sam complained, "see what we missed the last time we were here."

"You didn't miss much actually," Rachel hung an arm around Sam, saying, "sometimes this place is just plain boring."

Rachel, Artie, Sam and Tina followed behind Blaine, who had been walking so fast that he kept disappearing into the sea of people. None of them had bothered to ask him to slow down, because he wouldn't. He was determined to talk to Kurt after he had embarrassed him earlier on.

The four just continued talking about their future. Rachel was one of the few who managed to achieve her dream, so she felt that she could help the others too. She gave Sam a lot of advice about his career in modelling, but he seemed very half-hearted about it.

"I just want to get home to my family after high school first, ya know?" Sam said. He had been away from his family for almost half a year now and is beginning to really miss them. He had gone back for some of the holidays, but the situation at home hasn't gotten much better for his family. Paying for rent was still a struggle.

"You're living with Blaine now, right?" Rachel asked, "maybe he knows what to do."

"Right," Artie mused, "because Blaine is definitely in the right state of mind to help people."

Artie slid the door to Rachel's apartment right open. And in there, the sight of Blaine and Kurt singing together greeted their eyes.

"Oh, what the hell," Artie murmured.

_Kurt and Blaine  
__But if we get much closer  
I could lose control  
And if your heart surrenders  
You'll need me to hold_

_We are strong  
No one can tell us we're wrong  
Searchin' our hearts for so long  
Both of us knowing  
Love is a battlefield_

"How far were we behind Blaine?" Tina asked.

"You two okay?" Rachel cautiously moved into her apartment, slowly setting down her bag.

"Yeah," Kurt smiled at her, "where's Santana?"

Rachel turned back and screamed, "Oh shoot!" She dashed back out into the city, looking frantic.

Artie, Sam and Tina moved aside for her to go through and then walked into the house.

"You guys don't need to looked so scared," Blaine waved their worry expressions away, "we're okay."

"Blaine understands," Kurt explained, "I hope." Kurt smacks a magazine onto Blaine's head lightly.

The trio was still dumbfounded. "All that in, like, 10 seconds?" Tina exclaimed. Blaine's a stubborn fella, and the fact that he had changed his mind about pursuing Kurt after a few seconds with Kurt was appalling.

"It wasn't that short!" Kurt laughed, wondering why Tina would make such an assumption.

"But..." Artie trailed off, not wanting to go any further.

"Look," Kurt got up and turned to them, "I just agreed that if anything were to happen to Adam and I," Kurt bent down to knock twice on his wooden table, "I'd give Blaine another chance."

"And Blaine accepted that?" Sam asked, scratching his hip.

Blaine gave him a puzzled look.

"This is just so unbelievable, I thought we would spend the whole weekend with this crap," Sam heaved a sigh of relief and plopped down onto the couch. "You got any beer?"

"No," Kurt turned to the bedrooms, offering them a place to sleep for the night. "You're leaving tomorrow, right? Blaine told me you're going to be searching for a new member."

"Seriously, how long were we gone?" Tina whispered to Artie, flinging her arms wildly in front of her.

"Yeah, we're short of one for Nationals," Sam coughed, "there's plenty of applicants but we rather have one crazy talented one then a bunch of useless hoes."

"Sam!" Tina smacked him on the head.

"I agree with that actually," Kurt walked back from the kitchen holding a pitcher of what looked like carrot juice.

For a while before Rachel and Santana returned, the latter of which was complaining of being ditched, the five teenagers talked about their future. But it became apparent that Blaine was still trying to get Kurt back right now. He kept cracking jokes and trying to keep Kurt entertained. Frankly, Kurt was the only one he even talked to throughout the conversations.

"You seeing what I'm seeing?" Artie leaned in towards Sam and Tina. Both nodded in agreement. Artie leaned back further into his wheelchair and propped his head up with an arm. "This is going to be a long weekend."

* * *

**Author's Comments:** I hate writing Klaine stuff so much :( Hence the really rushed and lousy resolution like any Glee episode ever (throwing shade to Glee writers). Hehe.

**Songs:  
**Show Me Love (America) by The Wanted sung by Blaine, Artie, Sam, Tina and Adam  
All Of Me by John Legend sung by Blaine  
Love Is A Battlefield by Pat Benatar sung by Blaine and Kurt


	8. Chapter 8

**Glee S5 AU  
Episode 8  
Recruit**

* * *

**Storylines:  
**Tina and Artie: As the most experienced seniors, Finn tasks them to find them a new member  
Finn, Marley and Jake: Finn tries to settle the differences between the two, worried that their relationship may cost them Nationals

* * *

Marley hugged her books tightly to her chest. Going to Glee practice nowadays seem like a battle. They've been rehearsing every single day for Nationals with breaks in between to just relax and sing whatever they like. Today was one of those days, the relaxing days. But that's even worse because it's harder to avoid Jake. After their whole dispute a week ago, she had requested for him not to be her partner in an Nationals routine. Finn had agreed, so they were always far apart during rehearsals.

_Tina and Artie  
__Sweet love's showin' us a heavenly light  
I've never seen such a beautiful sight  
See love glowing on us every night  
I know forever we'll be doing it_

She entered the room, listening to the bubbly voices of two friends who have settled their differences. On Monday, Principal Sylvester had told them that only one of them could be valedictorian. They then went on this whole Cold War 2.0 thing which finally ended on Thursday, yesterday. Even though the resolution was pretty weird, with Blaine becoming valedictorian, and the two joining forces to hate him instead of each other...

_Tina  
__Everywhere we are  
You and I were meant to be  
Forever and ever_

_Artie  
__I think about the times to come  
Knowin' I will be the lucky one_

Marley chose a seat farthest away from Jake. She then sat there silently watching Tina and Artie's performance, secretly jealous that they could forgive each other so quickly. She stole a glance at Jake, who seemed to be putting as much effort, if not more, as Marley to not look at the other. Ryder's sitting beside him, whispering words to him every now and then.

"Artie, Tina," Finn called out, "Can I see you for a moment?"

Tina slung her arm around Artie and made their way to Finn, who was by the piano.

"Blaine!" Finn called out suddenly, "rehearsal!" Blaine nodded and drove every other member of the Glee club into formation for their prepared song 'America'.

"What'up?" Artie smiled cheekishly.

"Mr. Schuester's gonna be back in a week," Finn said, "and he's expecting New Directions to be back up to full strength."

"So you want us to be in charge of finding a new member," Tina continued on Finn's words, "Why can't we just find one of the better auditions from the start of the year?"

"Yeah, I mean, we had quite a few good ones and Mr. Schuester only picked one," Artie said.

"Although we needed four," Tina hung her head down so Finn wouldn't hear her.

But Finn must have caught wind of that because he gave Tina a tired look. "Look, we just need one more member. Maybe come up with a fun number while I'm not around. I have stuff going on in college so..."

"Count on us then," Tina laughed. She pat Finn on the back. Really low on the back, considering their height difference, and then wheeled Artie around to address the crowd.

After telling New Directions about the plan, the group started working on a number to attract the crowd. Artie, in particular, had doubts over the whole scenario. The Glee club had tried enticing potential members with performances before. The first ended up in song bans, the second only had two people paying attention and the third led to an all-out food war with flying pasta. While the members brain-stormed for songs, Finn called Marley over.

"So," Finn dragged her to a corner of the room, "what's going on with you and Jake? I don't wanna pry, but it's getting kinda hard to deal with."

"I know, I'm sorry!" Marley dug her fingers into her arms as if she was ashamed of something.

"Look, I just want this to be settled. I know it's hard but you two really need to talk it out."

Marley turned her head around and stared at Jake who was still within the group. He doesn't seem to be contributing much and is just spacing out. She let out a sigh and turned back to Finn. "We'll stop by Ohio college tomorrow afternoon, is that okay?"

Finn smiled, "Don't force yourselves, but thanks."

Marley nodded and headed back into the discussion group.

**Glee**

"What is it he wants to talk about?" Jake moaned as he followed Marley down the hall of dorms.

Marley checked the number of each, carefully making sure they don't miss the door.

"It should be this one," Marley whispered to herself and knocked on the door.

"Jake!" Noah Puckerman's voice rang as he opened the door. Puck beamed and grabbed Jake, forcing him into the room.

Finn looked up from his laptop and greeted the pair. Marley closed the door behind her, feeling a wee bit left out.

"Heard ya got some girl trouble," Puck bellowed, "That's not what a Puckerman should have."

"You got Quinn freaking pregnant," Finn laughed, slapping Puck on the back, "And then Zizes dumped your ass a year after that."

"Don't remind me of that," Puck slammed back onto his bed.

Marley sat onto a nearby chair and looked silently onto the ground.

"Finn, if you really need to know the details," Marley seems disinterested in the conversation she was about to start, "Jake cheated on me with Bree."

Finn didn't look at all surprised. Tina had already told him everything. His initial reaction was not one to show Marley anyway, he was very annoyed about all the couple drama that had happened to him over his years in High School.

"Not cool, man," Puck said to Jake.

"Like Finn said, you shouldn't even be a judge in this kind of situation," Jake replied coldly.

"For the record," Finn slumped into his chair, "I'm not some guidance counsellor, so I won't be able to help you with your relationship status."

Marley finally took her eyes off the ground. Finally, someone who may have something she wants to hear. She wasn't interested with getting back with Jake. What Jake did was inexcusable and Jake knew that too, but he hasn't even apologized. Not that an apology would mean much anyway.

"But you guys know so much about each other, you liked each other," Finn shrugged his shoulders, "don't let one thing just ruin whatever friendship you had before."

Jake gulped down and lifted his head. "I don't want this coldness either."

"It sucks," Marley agreed, "but..."

"You can't just forgive him about it. I know, I felt the same way with Puck too four years ago."

Puck raised his head in defiance but Finn continued, "Despite that, it's childish to just ignore each other. Having nothing to do with the other? That's plain stupid. And it wastes time and effort, because there's no winner in this."

"Yeah," Puck finally said, "you both already know the situation. From what I know, both of you are kinda guilty about something."

Marley shot him a look of pure hatred, making Puck rethink his words. "Some more than others," he added.

"Just, take one step further, okay? What's the point of hating. That feeling of betrayal, it doesn't go away. But you can choose to move on. Quickly."

Marley held her breathe, releasing it slowly while processing what Finn said.

"Nationals is coming up," Jake murmured. He had his shoulders hung forward, slouching into his knees.

"Fine," Marley said, "Let's just pretend nothing happened."

"Don't do that, that never works," Finn warned, "just, accept that it happened and move on."

"You say it like it's so simple," Puck laughed.

"I came to Sectionals, didn't I?" Finn flicked a pen at his friend.

Jake got up from the bed and thanked Finn, walking out of the room. Very suddenly.

Puck looked confused, and then excused himself to catch up with his brother.

"What was that about?" Finn asked, appearing as confused as Puck was.

"He has pride," Marley sighed. She gave Finn a hug before slowly walking out of the room.

**Glee**

"Never thought I'd see you in that white tux again," Artie held back a giggle.

"Shut up," Tina said, slapping him with her white hat, "this was a stupid idea from Blaine. Smart, but stupid."

"Everyone loves Michael Jackson, Tina," Artie smiled, "plus it's an excuse to reuse some of the costumes."

"I know, that's why I said it was smart. Not s smart to let your girlfriend wear Quinn's costume, though. She's been fawning over it the hole day," Tina pointed towards Kitty, who, until now, was still taking pictures of herself in Quinn's dress.

"Showtime!" Blaine shouted, gathering the members of the Glee club into position.

_Blaine  
__I said you wanna be startin' somethin'  
You got to be startin' somethin'  
I said you wanna be startin' somethin'  
You got to be startin' somethin'_

_Jake (Marley and Tina)  
__Too high to get over (Yeah, Yeah)  
You're too low to get under (Yeah, Yeah)_

_Ryder (Marley and Tina)__  
__You're stuck in the middle (Yeah, Yeah)__  
And the pain is thunder (Yeah, Yeah)_

Throughout the dance, the members of New Directions kept looking towards the crowd, looking for a reaction. Tina noted that almost everyone seem to be enjoying it, which was kinda expected since they have built up quite the meaningful reputation after last year's first-place-finish. There were a few disinterested people, but you can't please anymore. Unlike two years back, where there was only two people paying attention, there were many, so they definitely could not hope to identify one individual to join New Directions this time around.

Maybe auditions would be necessary, Tina thought. But she definitely would not want to sit through hearing untalented people sing again. Some didn't even sing.

_Artie and Tina  
__Lift your head up high  
And scream out to the world  
I know I am someone  
And let the truth unfurl_

_Blaine and Marley  
__No one can hurt you now  
Because you know it's true  
Yes, I believe in me  
So you believe in you!_

_Blaine  
__Help me sing it!_

Right after that moment, everyone knew that this was their time to really draw attention from the crowd. Singing was one thing, but Blaine had ordered everyone to do a little dance solo for this segment. Obviously, no one was keen except Unique, whose dance was something no one would ever want to see. Kitty went first and Jake went last to at least leave an impression that they were good.

_New Directions  
__Ma ma se, ma ma se, ma ma coo sa!  
Ma ma se, ma ma se, ma ma coo sa!  
Ma ma se, ma ma se, ma ma coo sa!  
Ma ma se, ma ma se, ma ma coo sa!_

"We're so screwed," Tina whispered to Artie. But this 'screwed' wasn't like previous years. In previous years, they always had the lack of choices to add to their club, this time they have too many. Principal Sylvester had announced that they were accepting members, and many in the crowd seem interested now. Damn our talent, Tina thought.

**Glee**

"I hate you so much, you know that," Artie moaned.

"I thought we've moved on from that," Tina laughed and grabbed the sheet from Artie. The signup sheet was filled with sixty-six names. They had hoped for less, of course. This wasn't flattery anymore, this was just how much work they had to do.

"Everyone," Artie stated, with the most angst he could muster, "Everybody sucked." He leaned onto the arm of his wheelchair, defeated.

"You've only went through like, half the list," Tina complained. She looked through all the names crossed-out on the list. "Who's Suqmipy Neiss? Is that Malay or something?"

"That's a joke," Artie wheeled away, "well, the rest is yours."

Before Tina could argue, Artie turned a corner and was nowhere to be seen. "Fine, I'll just throw this to Blaine." Unlike herself and Artie, Blaine would actually enjoy doing this. But Finn had tasked this to them, and not Blaine. That just showed his trust towards the two original members of the club. And she wouldn't ever want to admit it, but she wants to impress Finn.

Tina bit her lips, confused. She doesn't want to do it, but she knows that Artie and her should be the one to complete this daunting task. "Oh, whatever," Tina walked over to Artie's locker and threw the signup sheet in. "It's a blessing I still remember your combination."

"Tina!" Blaine came rushing to her, with Sam slowly catching up behind him. "Choir room now."

"What?" was all Tina could muster before the two dragged her to the room nearby. Everyone was in the room, with the exception of Artie.

"We can't wait for Artie," Kitty said, pulling a chair for Tina to sit down, as they were all sitting in a circle. "Okay, Joe, what is it?"

"I heard Vocal Adrenaline was going to be in Ohio for awhile, and Sugar and I saw them the other day," Joe started, before he was cruelly interrupted by Unique.

"Yeah, we used to do that, it's kind of a tradition to do some sort of tour so we could familiarise ourselves with any stage," Unique seem to felt the need to share her knowledge. She was from Vocal Adrenaline the year before anyway, so she should know.

Joe tried to continue, but was again so rudely interrupted by Tina, "Did they see you?! You two were in the winning team last year!"

"Of course not, doofus," Sugar whined, "we're like ninjas." Sugar seemed to take pride in whatever she just said. She really isn't good at conversing at all.

"Anyway," Joe, finally able to start up again, "we managed to grab some information. Unique, you were telling us about that Jean Baptiste you hated last year, right? Well, he's the new vocal lead."

"That guy?" Unique's eyes widened, "okay, we are sc-re-ewed. His voice may be a needle in my ear but he can sing for nuts."

Ryder cringed, "But you're better than him, right? That's why you were the lead vocalist last year."

"No, I was only lead vocalist in Sectionals because he came down with some Dengue crap," Unique waved the compliment off, "And then because of the whole transgendered story. I had Kurt and Mercedes to thank for that. But him, he's all talent."

"I'm betting he's a bitch," Kitty muttered.

"That's not all though," Joe continued, "they sang like five songs at the make-up stage near BreadStix..."

"They can't use that!" Tina screamed, albeit too loudly.

"They did," patiently, Joe persevered to continue his story, "but I'm not finished. They had another two members that sang as well."

"Oh, what the hell!" Unique gasped in surprise, "I'm sorry, please continue."

"I think they're brother and sister. The girl had short hair with a long fringe, with a deep voice."

"And the guy was like super hawt," exasperated Sugar.

Unique looked at them, confused, "I don't remember any girl with short hair with deep voice. Or anyone who looked alike."

"Yeah, two vocalists other than the lead vocalist? That's not Vocal Adrenaline's style," Blaine bit his lips.

Before they could continue, Artie wheeled through the door. "What's with this gathering without me? Nevermind that, Tina! Get your ass here now."

Tina widened her eyes with fear towards the other members. She left, leaving the rest perplexed over Artie's aggressive tone.

"What?"

"Good news and bad news. Bad news, I'm going to kill you," Artie held up the signup sheet.

"Artie, I'm sorry," although she didn't really mean it.

"Good news is that I found someone. Aylin Bayramoglu."

"Who's that?"

"Someone with a killer voice, that's who. Come on."

Artie lead the way into an empty classroom beside the McKinley trophy display shelves. There in the room, sat a girl with dark skin and brown skin. She was slightly taller than Tina, which would make her kind of short.

"So, you're Aylin?" Tina greeted her cheerfully. Aylin did look promising.

"Oh my God! Tina Cohen-Chang!" Aylin jumped up in excitement. She ran to shake Tina's hand. "Your cover of ABC in Sectionals last year was amazing!"

"Oh!" Tina turned to Artie, mouthing 'good-job'. "So, I assume you're a sophomore?"

"Oh, no, I'm a freshman. My Mum just brought me to watch because I love music so much."

Artie butted in between the two ladies, "Well, Aylin, flattery won't get you anywhere. Not with me, at least." Artie turned to Tina and shook his head. "Here's the song sheet, show Tina and I what you got. I'm sure she'll enjoy your voice."

"Sure thing. So, I'll just sing the highlighted parts?"

_Artie  
__Your lights are on but you're not home  
Your mind is not your own  
Your heart sweats, your body shakes  
Another kiss is what it takes_

_Tina  
__Whoa, you like to think that you're immune to the stuff  
oh yeah_

_Tina and Aylin  
__It's closer to the truth to say 'can't get enough'_

"Oh, that's your line? I'm sorry!" Aylin burst out, covering her mouth in shame.

"No, no, it's a duet line, just sing!" Artie pushed.

_Aylin  
__Might as well face it, you're addicted to love  
Might as well face it, you're addicted to love  
Might as well face it, you're addicted to love  
Might as well face it, you're addicted to love_

_Artie  
__Might as well, wo-oh, yeah_

"I love your belts," Tina looked at Aylin in surprise. She was good, very good.

"Thanks!" Aylin blushed.

Tina looked at Artie for awhile. Artie nodded.

"Welcome to New Directions!" Tina screamed, as Aylin joined in. The both hug and Artie clapped for her.

**Glee**

"Guys, I would like to introduce you to our newest member," Tina walked into the choir room with pride. She wrapped her arm around Aylin's as if she was a trophy to be proud of. Artie just followed them silently from behind, carefully observing Tina while stifling laughter. "This is Aylin! She's Turkish Muslim and very conservative."

Her last few words were spoken so enthusiastically, it left everyone including Aylin confused.

"Hi," was all Aylin could get out.

Finn, who had, for some reason, a black magician hat with him, left it on the piano and welcomed Aylin. After a faint exchange of greetings, Aylin went to take a seat with the crowd. Although, Marley took notice that she went straight to sit beside Jake.

"Hi, I'm Aylin."

"Jake," he wanted to sound firm but his voice gave way as he was slightly intimidated by her presence.

"That's a horribly cute name," Aylin blushed.

"Alright! Time to get down to business," Finn wrote Aylin's name down on a piece of paper and tossed it into the hat. "It's time to pick your duet partners."

After being asked by Aylin, Jake filled her in on Finn's plan to find unexpected duet partners. So, Finn planned to make everyone sing with a random person, in hopes of finding hidden chemistry between members of the Glee club.

"I hope I pick you," Aylin laughed, much to Jake's discomfort. Marley too, since she was just sitting a few seats away.

"You look jealous," Unique teased her.

"I hope I get you or Ryder," Marley whispered back, ignoring Unique's comment. Though it was plain obvious to Unique that she wanted Jake.

As the winner of the last competition Finn held, Tina went up first. She dramatically placed her hand into the hat and pulled up a piece of paper.

"Stop doing it like Effie and just open the paper!" Kitty mocked.

"Fine," Tina opened the piece of paper, "Jake!"

Finn guided Jake and Tina to a side of the room, where they stood together. The two seem comfortable together, they had sang duets before during the school musical of Grease. Although 'Mooning' wouldn't be a song suitable for Nationals, this would be their chance to discover more about their vocal chemistry. On the other hand, both Aylin and Marley look disappointed.

"Oh, you so want to duet with him again," Unique laughed, and then went up second. She picked the neatest folded piece of paper and opened it. "Kitty!"

"Well, that's new," Finn said, satisfied. The first pairing was far from new, but this was fresh. "Erm, who wants to go next? Blaine?"

Blaine came up to the front. "Sugar."

The name was met with disappointment and frustration from both Blaine and Sugar.

Marley walked up next, "Sam." Although not one she had ever thought of, she was happy with the result.

"Okay, Aylin, why don't you come and pick." Aylin came down, following Finn's orders and dug her hand into the hat. She pulled out a piece of paper with Tina's name, which Finn discarded, and then one with Ryder's name.

She seemed satisfied with her choice, saying "hot" before leaving to grab Ryder and drag him to the side where all the other pairs were.

"That leaves Artie and Joe," Finn announced and looked at the pairs. "Unique and Kitty, Sam and Marley, Aylin and Ryder, you guys will perform next Wednesday. And Tina and Jake, Artie and Joe, Blaine and Sugar, you guys will perform next Thursday. Everyone happy?"

"Yes," most of them replied.

"Okay, then! Let's get to rehearsing. Ryder, could you help Aylin, please?"

* * *

**Author's comment:** Yes, I'm adding Aylin from TGP2 :) And I'm going to add Michael and Nellie soon. They've already been mentioned so... 2 chapters later, if I follow through with my plan! I'm excited to write Michellie in. I adore them. Next episode may take awhile, but the next 2 may come together (well, closer dates)

**Songs:  
**Whenever I Call You Friend by Kenny Loggins and Stevie Nicks sung by Tina and Artie  
Wanna Be Startin' Something by Michael Jackson sung by Blaine, Artie, Ryder, Jake, Marley and Tina  
Addicted To Love by Robert Palmer sung by Tina, Artie and Aylin


	9. Chapter 9

**Glee S5 AU  
Episode 9  
Random Partners**

* * *

**Storylines:  
**Unique and Kitty: The two struggle to find a suitable song  
Sam and Marley: Sam relates to Marley's situation with Jake  
Aylin and Ryder: Ryder gets annoyed with Aylin's consistent flirting

* * *

Unique jumped onto Kitty's bed. It wasn't too unfamiliar to her, she had slept over at Kitty's place before. Unbeknownst to her, this was the exact place where Marley began to nauseate herself.

"Well, it's not like our voices don't go together," Unique cried out, "we've sang plenty of songs together before."

"Not alone though," Kitty was leaning downwards, staring at her computer. She had neglected her chair and was standing in such a position that her butt was staring straight at Unique.

Unique leaned back to lie down on Kitty's bed. It was much softer than her own.

"How about," Unique lifted a finger, "Diamonds by Rihanna. I mean, we would rock that song."

"I hate that song."

Kitty continued scrolling through the songs in Unique's folder. All the songs she had recommended, which was just 4 songs to be precise, had been shot down by Unique. But Unique felt the same way too. Kitty had scrolled through her songs about five times and still had not conceded into choosing any.

"This is hopeless," Kitty slammed her Mac book shut and finally takes a seat on a chair.

Unique got up from her position and frowned. They've been at this for about two hours and they still could not find a song to sing.

"Why did Finn have to give us the first day," Kitty swirled around in her chair, "Mr. Schuester would put all the seniors first and us at the back. Or at least Blaine first."

"Oh, stop whining, Mr. Schuester's moving to New York soon. And we won't be seeing anymore of him soon," Unique said, "so stop your lust for him."

"Oh, how about Crush?" Kitty had a stroke of inspiration. She had always loved that song, and think that they could do it justice.

"The song? Hell no, it sucks."

"This is exactly why this week's theme is stupid. Unexpected pairs," Kitty sighed, "they don't duet for a friggin reason."

"Speaking of crush, how are you and Artie?"

Kitty threw her phone towards Unique, giving her the authority to sift through her messages.

"Nothing much, to be honest," Kitty said humbly, "not much to tell, not much to hear."

"What about after graduation?" Unique placed the phone down carefully on the bed, "I can't imagine being in that kind of situation!"

"You haven't even dated before."

Unique scowled at her, which then turned into a pout.

"I thought Ryder would've given you a shot," Kitty pulled the scrungie off her hair, letting it flow down gloriously.

Unique rolled around in the bed, "Nah, he wouldn't even give me a shot. Can you blame him though?"

Kitty shook her head, an answer Unique had expected.

"This is a waste of time," Kitty finally said, opening up her bedroom door. "You can show yourself out."

"Oh, the hell? You ain't kicking me out, girl."

"I am. Deal with it," Kitty sat back down and opened her Mac book. She closed the files she had on and passed the thumbdrive back to Unique. She then began doing her own thing, a sign to Unique that Kitty had already given up.

"You know, after throwing that Slushy to my face at the start of the year, I think I get at least a chance to be rude to you," Unique argued, "so I ain't moving."

"I thought being your friend is already more than a pain in that department. Can't that be counted as being rude?"

"I didn't force you to be friends with me," Unique grabbed her chair, "so you can stop acting like you hate me."

Kitty moaned, "Well, at least you're not one of those untouchables in school."

"You classify people in school? Wow, Kitty that's so..." but Unique trailed off, thinking about what Kitty said. "Oh my god, what about Untouched?"

"The song? You like that song?"

"You don't?"

"Of course I do," Kitty got up and faced Unique, "You want to sing that? We can totally do that!"

"Right on, girlfriend!" Unique held out a hand to hi-5 Kitty.

Kitty stared at Unique and took a deep breath. "Don't ever say or do that again."

Unique took a step back and raised out her hands in defeat. "You're the boss."

"Oh, no duh," Kitty closed the tabs on her computer and searched for Untouched on YouTube.

**Glee**

"How about Apologize by Maroon 5? Or any other song..." Sam pondered over the songs he could remember at the top of his head, "What songs did you listen to as a kid?"

"I don't know..." Marley mumbled.

"You've been really down this whole time," Sam pouted at her, "still angry about Jake?"

"I don't get why I still care about him," Marley threw her head backwards, stretching her fingers into the air and she hung her head back. "I know all this complaining is getting very old, but I just can't stop thinking about him."

"Don't worry, it's just a phase."

"But, I do want to think about him. That's the problem."

"That's part of the phase," Sam assured her, placing his guitar onto the ground, resting it on Blaine's desk. "Trust me, I've been there before."

Marley laughed, for the first time since she entered Blaine's house, "is everyone in Glee club that adulterated?"

"Only the special few. I was even used as a beard once."

"Oh, yes!" Marley's giggles pierced the air, it was so sharp and loud, which was surprising for a girl that shy, "Santana told me about that."

At that moment, Blaine's head popped up at the door, "Sorry, guys, mind keeping it down?" Blaine had a phone in his hand, and he seemed pretty annoyed.

"What's with him?" asked Marley.

"He's talking to Sugar," Sam widened his eyes to express his fear, "you know how it's like having to stubborn people together."

The joy was sucked out of Marley's eyes, and she silently agreed with Sam on his point. Sam looked sadly at her. Just knowing what she's going through brings pain to his chest.

"You know, Finn told us to move on," Marley sighed, "I don't think I can do that. Jake seems to already have."

"Oh, no, he hasn't," murmured Sam.

Marley looked at him inquisitively.

"He still likes you in that sorta way, I'm sure you do too. Just don't think about him for awhile. I'm sure you'll get over him."

"Is that what you did with Quinn?"

"Exactly how much did Santana tell you?" Sam scowled. Changing the subject, Sam got Marley back on track to finding a song for their duet. They have quite a lot of songs they like. And that was the problem, there was too many songs to choose from.

"How about Billy Joel?" Sam suggested.

"Yes!" Marley's eyes lit on fire. She had always loved singing his songs. But that only led to more songs to ultimately choose from.

"Wow, that is a whole lot to choose from," Sam said while adding four more songs to their list.

"It was always hard to pick songs with Jake..." Marley pursed her lips together, "I'm glad I got you."

Sam backed away from her, scared of the thought. She had to reassure him that there was no feelings there.

"You're like a brother to me."

Sam smiled, and took a long hard look at the list. He took out his pen and started cancelling out a few. After a half hour, they still have ten songs to choose from.

"This is exhausting," Marley commented, prepared to give up. But there was just nine more to cross of.

"Why don't we just sing each one of them and see which one suits us best?" Sam shrugged his shoulders. Marley didn't seem to have a problem with that, so they chose a random one off the list first. Sam picked up his guitar and they started singing.

_Sam__  
I'm wasting my time  
I got nothing to do  
I'm hanging around  
I'm waiting for you  
But nothing ever happens and I wonder_

_Marley and Sam  
__I wonder how  
I wonder why  
Yesterday you told me 'bout the blue blue sky  
And all that I can see is just a yellow lemon-tree_

"Sam, Marley," Blaine popped into the room.

"What?" Sam looked up, slightly annoyed that Blaine had interrupted their practice.

"Sugar and some New Directions members will be here soon. Some can't make it but, at least it's better with most of you here."

"Wait, why?" Marley was taken aback.

"Tina just walked past Vocal Adrenaline at the mall. She talked to Jean Baptiste."

"What?" The two shouted together.

"Apparently he recognised her, their coming over now."

**Glee**

"Hey, Blaine, got your text," Finn said, he looked just as confused as everyone when he walked through the door.

Sugar followed swiftly behind Finn, as if they had been walking to Blaine's house the entire time together. She munched on her apple, and continuously complained about Blaine using this as an excuse to discuss the duet face to face with her.

"Geez, we're not performing so soon, just chillax," Sugar threw her apple at Blaine. Disgusted, Blaine quickly flung it into the rubbish bin.

Sam, Marley, Ryder, Aylin, Tina, Sugar and Finn had arrived at Blaine's house. Unique and Kitty were busy preparing their duet, and Artie and Joe seemed to be MIA, possibly for the same reason. Jake had declined the invitation no matter how many times Blaine pestered him to come.

"Okay, since this is everyone selfless who bothers coming," Tina started.

"Don't be rude to them, I gave them a task, it's only fair they would want to complete it first," Finn smiled at her, trying not to get on her bad side, but still he felt that he had the responsibility to defend them.

"Whatever," Sugar croaked, "if they aren't here, but I am, they are just so lazy."

"Finn's right, I'm sorry," Tina stuttered.

Sam looked at her in bewilderment. She had never backed down from an argument so quickly before, yet alone apologized when she was wrong. Many around the room seemed to have felt the same, as they returned the same expression.

"So, what did you see? Or would you like us to wait for the Ice Age to start again?" Sugar took another apple out of her bag and started rubbing it with her hands.

"Well, as you know, Unique has told us that Vocal Adrenaline would be staying here for awhile, but it's not just awhile," Tina paused for dramatic effect, "they're staying here until Nationals start."

"What? Why?" Blaine burst out.

"It's not all that surprising if you think about it," Finn thought aloud, his hand carefully rubbing his jaw. "They would want to scare their biggest competition."

"Biggest competition?" Aylin gasped. She had not realised until now that she was among National winners. "Oh, gosh, this is so cool."

"So, what? They can stay here all they want, it's not like it's going to matter," Ryder commented.

Tina sighed, "You're not getting the point. Four years ago, Vocal Adrenaline targeted us as enemies during Regionals, and they beat the crap out of us. We don't want that position again."

"Yeah, but Jean isn't Jessie," Finn said, "we'll have a chance, we just don't have to give in to their threats."

"You mean, don't watch them perform, right?" Marley asked.

Blaine raised his hand to get attention. "We just don't have to pay attention when they try to intimidate us at all these public places. It's like they are choosing spots most people would go to so that we would actually see them."

"In other words," Tina carried on, "don't get out of your house."

"What?!" Ryder screamed. He then murmured a 'sorry'.

"You guys didn't see what I saw," Tina said worriedly, "if it was any of you there instead of me, you would be freaking out."

"They were that good huh?" Ryder buried his head in his hands.

"This doesn't matter," Finn spoke up confidently, he took a look at the anxious faces around the room. "We're just as good as them. They can throw anything they want at us, we are stronger than that. Because we know we are better. We're National Champs, guys."

"So are they," Sam whispered to Marley.

"Tee, could you, give us more details about them?" Blaine was curious about them now. He's usually the only one who will really evaluate the enemy. Even Mr. Schuester don't do that. But Blaine always feel that the New Directions overestimate themselves, they had to put in a lot of effort if they want to win.

"Well, Joe and Sugar were right," Tina said, with Sugar giving a little bow, "three leads. That Jean guy was singing most of the song though. And he's a total jerk."

"We've never met one who was nice, anyway," Sam sighed.

"Why are they being so passive about their intimidation though?" Aylin asked. She immediately regret asking, because the others just stared at her, confused. But then they began questioning it as well. And Aylin's question seemed to have cast everyone in a dome of worry.

"Holy crap, she's right," Tina gasped, "they weren't so passive the last time. They came into our auditorium and scared the crap out of us."

"And threw toilet paper everywhere..." Finn grabbed his head, annoyed by the memory. "Look, they can't do that again, and we've overcame it before, we can overcome it again."

"Firstly," Blaine, now being the most anxious one, said, "you, Tina and Artie overcame it, not us. And second, you lost after that, right? Wouldn't we lose now?"

"Our aim is to get to the top 5, guys," Finn said. "Don't worry about the competition, just do the best you can, do it well, and do it great."

"What?" Sugar expressed her annoyance at Finn's utterly ridiculous words.

"They are trying to beat us, we are trying to win, or at least get into the top 5," Finn said, "So, why care about them?"

"Because they're our arch nemesis!" Sam blurted out.

The conversation seemed to go round in circles after that. Finn was trying to calm everyone down, but everyone still seemed worried about Vocal Adrenaline. It's true that Vocal Adrenaline has it out for them, but despite trying all he could to get them to ignore Vocal Adrenaline, Finn could not stop them from discussing about them. Tina and Blaine seemed most worried about the trio leads, because it was new. The rest just seemed like they think they don't have a shot at first place anymore, and the idea of coming in the top 5 is slipping away.

Tina continued recounting her encounter with Jean Baptiste. By the sound of it, she hated that guys guts. "He's a freaking bully," she said. But that's expected, what's the point of being nice when you're trying to scare the competition? By about 7 pm., most of the members left the house.

"Is it always this bad when it comes to your meetings," Aylin joked, clinging onto Ryder's arm as they left the house.

"This was one of the few, I guess," Ryder laughed along. "Hey, have you thought about a song for the task?"

"I have many, but you should choose," Aylin said, hugging Ryder's arm tighter.

Ryder began feeling uncomfortable. Aylin had been clinging onto him ever since they began partners.

"You know, we could just ditch the assignment, do something more... you know."

"No, I don't."

Aylin continued talking to Ryder in weird ways, making Ryder more uncomfortable than he was already. She kept talking and asking questions in such a manner and tone that made it seem like she was making a move on him.

"Erm, Aylin?"

"Yeah?"

Even her 'yeah' sounded so seductive that Ryder couldn't bear to open his mouth again. But he had to.

"Why do you keep acting this way?"

"Acting like what? I'm like this all the time."

"That flirtatious huh?" The words escaped his mouth before he could stop it. But Aylin didn't seem to care about the words at all.

"Why not? It's fun." Aylin shrugged, she had finally stopped saying everything in that seductive tone. Which made Ryder feel at ease, but the fact that she's talking normally also scared him a little.

After walking a while more in silence, Aylin started again. Ryder held his breathe in, he didn't want to tell her to stop because she was new to New Directions and didn't want to scare her off. But there was just a limit he could take.

"Could you stop that, please? I'm getting kinda grossed out."

"Holy crap," Aylin stopped walking, "it's not working on you, is it?"

Ryder looked at her with a confused look on his face.

"The flirting and the throwing of self to you... and then playing hard to get to mess with you afterwards," she explained, as if it was plain obvious.

Ryder felt even more confused, "why would you do that?"

"I don't know, it's fun to mess with guys, you know."

"Really?"

"They mess with me all the time anyway, may as well get back at them," Aylin walked off, at a quickened pace that made Ryder run a bit to make up the distance between them.

"What do you mean?" Ryder asked her.

"Nothing, just nothing," Aylin groaned, "if it doesn't work on you, I'll stop it. I still have Jake for that anyway."

"No," Ryder grabbed her arm so hard she spun around, "What do you mean they mess with you? Like... ra...?"

"What?" Aylin laughed, "no, don't be stupid!"

She then began struggling to get free from Ryder's grab, giggling along the way. Ryder felt like she was reverting back to the flirtatious Aylin, so he let go immediately.

"Oh, come on, you're no fun," Aylin giggled, poking him in the ribs and then continued walking far along. "Come on, don't lag behind, slowpoke."

Ryder groaned and followed her. Although he should be thinking about the song they'll be dueting, he couldn't stop thinking about Aylin. He wants to know more about her. She's just putting up a front, like how he did when he couldn't accept the fact that he was dyslexic.

"You can tell me anything, Aylin," Ryder coughed up, "we're friends."

"Where is this coming from?" She choked on her own laughter. But it was a nervous laughter. She could tell that Ryder was trying to dig deep.

"We're partners, we should start getting to know each other more."

"Okay, wise-ass," Aylin poked him again, "so, tell me about yourself then."

"I'm dyslexic."

"What the hell is that? Some kind of guy disorder?" She let out a loud laugh, her ignorance was nothing but a rope around Ryder's neck. If she didn't know what dyslexia is, then he can't possibly make her relate to him.

"Don't look so upset. I shouldn't have kid about it. Sorry," Aylin smiled at him, and then the two laughed for a bit. "So, dyslexia huh. You can't read anything?"

"It's just hard to."

"But you're fine with it now?"

"It took a while. Finn helped me through it."

Aylin sucked in her cheeks, realised how ridiculous she looked and then stopped. She whistled a low note and then proceeded to stop talking altogether.

Ryder didn't try pestering her about it anymore, so he just stopped the conversation right there and then. But right before they parted ways, Aylin turned to him, "How about Please Don't Leave Me by P!nk? It'll be awesome to sing." Ryder simply nodded and was left to ponder why she chose that song out of the blue.

**Glee**

_Kitty and Unique  
__I feel so untouched right now  
Need you so much somehow  
I can't forget you  
Been going crazy from the moment I met you_

_Kitty  
__Untouched, Ah_

_Unique  
__Untouched, Ah_

_Kitty  
__Untouched, Ah_

"Woah, that was awesome, girls!" Finn cheered, which was followed by claps from the others. Some, especially Tina and Blaine, had a bit of bitterness in their applause. They were both really competitive, and although they were supportive of their fellow New Directions members, they wanted to win badly.

"Okay, Ryder, Aylin, you're up," Finn gestured the two to take the floor in the choir room.

"Go, Aylin!" Artie shouted, trying to encourage the new member of New Directions. Aylin smiled nervously back as everyone else joined in to cheer for her.

"Nervous?" Ryder teased her.

"Anxious," she replied back.

_Aylin  
__I don't know if I can yell any __louder__,  
How many times have I kicked you out of here  
Or said something insulting?_

_Aylin and Ryder  
__I can be so mean when I wanna be,  
I am capable of really anything,  
I can cut you into pieces,  
When my heart is broken._

Ryder looked to Aylin, who seemed to be focusing on the words. She was good at the singing part, but her acting needed to be brushed up. She's singing without any real emotion, it felt too forced. Of course, he wasn't the best judge, but if he could sense it, everyone else would too. But she seemed to be really trying, and halfway through, she finally started sounding genuine.

_Ryder (Aylin)  
_Please, don't leave me, oh  
Please, don't leave me (don't leave me)  
I always say how I don't need you

_Aylin_  
But it's always gonna come right back to this  
Please, don't leave me

And just when she finally sounded her best, her most emotional, she suddenly stopped singing altogether.

"Aylin, you okay?" Blaine asked. Finn went up to her and began to console.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, sorry," claimed Aylin, who began to laugh to ease the tension. But her laugh was fake and everybody could tell.

"No, let's just start over," Aylin tapped Ryder on the shoulder to show that she was alright. Or, pretended that she was alright. "Can we start over?" she laughed again, this time more convincingly.

Finn stared at her, considering the situation. But he's not Mr. Schuester and he doesn't really know how to console people the way his mentor does. So, he had to let it go on for now. "Sure."

* * *

**Storylines: **Michellie next episode, heck yeah. BTW this Aylin is just a character, with wayyy exaggerated traits from Aylin herself and different stories. Not Aylin herself 3 cause I shouldn't write about real people nor know how to. Plus, I couldn't think of any other names so~ All reviews are appreciated, if you would care to drop one. Haven't gotten any for a while.

**Songs:**  
Lemon Tree by Fools Garden sung by Marley and Sam  
Untouched by The Veronicas sung by Kitty and Unique  
Please Don't Leave Me by P!nk sung by Aylin and Ryder


	10. Chapter 10

**Glee S5 AU  
Episode 10  
If I Were Lucky**

* * *

**Storylines:  
**Tina and Jake: Both confide in each other's failures in relationships  
Artie and Joe: Artie realises the potential in Joe

* * *

_Tina  
__Lyin' here with you so close to me  
It's hard to fight these feelings when it feels so hard to breathe  
Caught up in this moment  
Caught up in your smile_

_Jake  
__I've never opened up to anyone  
So hard to hold back when I'm holding you in my arms  
We don't need to rush this  
Let's just take it slow_

"Yeah, so that's the first verse," Tina clicked pause on the YouTube video she had on. Karaoke versions of popular songs were everywhere nowadays.

"It's a good song, it still reminds me of Marley though," Jake groaned.

"It reminds me of Mike too," Tina jumped onto Jake's bed, lying beside him.

"I thought you like Finn now."

"Who in the world told you that?" Tina gave him a scowl. But Jake just laughed.

Jake sat up, balancing himself with his hands on his bed, "weren't you going after him?"

"No. I mean, he's nice. It's just that it'll be wrong," Tina said as she buried her head in a pillow. She already expected the next question. Everyone would ask her that.

"Why?"

"Because," she reluctantly lifted up her head, with hair flying into her eyes and mouth. "He likes Rachel and Rachel likes him. Blah blah blah, Finchel stuff."

"Didn't they break up after the failed marriage?"

"Nah, they just kind of delayed it after Quinn got injured."

"He likes you now, though," Jake teased her. He got off the bed, grabbing a picture of Marley and him together, that he had just noticed, and casted it aside.

"You really don't even want to think about her, do you?" Tina asked.

"Like you and Finn. Just, weirder." Jake jumped back onto the bed.

"I don't want to be such a prick," Tina turned around, facing the ceiling of Jake's bedroom, "but why Bree of all people?"

Jake sighed. He refused to answer the question before, and it seems like Tina wouldn't get an answer out of him too.

"Let's continue. I want to learn the rest of the song," Jake said, getting up and heading towards Tina's computer.

"Look, I understand if you don't want to talk about it," Tina started getting up into a sitting position, "But can I?"

"About Marley?"

"About Finn."

Jake turned around, his face shrivelled up into a frown. "You want to talk about that with me?"

"Well, Artie and Sam would only make fun of me. And Blaine would not even give decent advice."

"Because he's gay?" Jake chuckled, sitting down beside Tina.

"No," Tina laughed, "because he's so obsessed over the whole Vocal Adrenaline thing."

Jake nodded silently. They both know that Blaine was taking this whole Vocal Adrenaline thing to a whole other level. It was pretty much an addiction. Ever since Joe and Sugar told them about the trio lead they had, Blaine had been furiously researching about them. So much so that Sugar regretted telling them about it because they couldn't even focus on their duet.

"Did he tell you about the two freshmen leads?" Jake looked to her.

"Oh yeah. It's weird to see Vocal Adrenaline doing that. It's definitely a different approach from the last three years. Anyway," Tina changed the subject so fast, it was obvious she wasn't very interested in Vocal Adrenaline. Yet. "I need advice."

"You're asking for advice from the kid who cheated on his girlfriend. The only advice I have is to never do that," Jake laughed.

Tina plopped back down onto the bed. Back first, but didn't expect it to hurt that much. "I just feel so helpless. I want to ask him, but it just feels weird. Like I'm betraying Rachel or something."

"Well, he's not with Rachel right? So it's technically not wrong."

"Yeah, but they always just end back up together," Tina groaned, "I don't want to be another Quinn or Puck."

Jake laughed, "Puck was with Rachel?"

"Puckleberry, yeah!"

"Oh, God," Jake burst out laughing beside her. Which annoyed Tina.

"You're supposed to be giving me advice!"

"I am, you're just too stubborn to take it," Jake returned Tina's slap on the back, "Just ask him, the worst he can say is no anyway."

"Like that's a good thing," Tina turned away, considering the option. "I should, shouldn't I?"

Jake leaned his head to a side, signalling to her that it was obvious. However, his condescending look just made Tina more furious.

"Oh, fine, whatever. I'll ask him tomorrow after the performance."

"You should just say it's dedicated to him."

"Shut up!" Tina flung a pillow towards Jake, hitting him off the bed.

**Glee**

"Why did you bring her here? She's a spy," Artie pointed a finger towards Sugar, who just shook him off.

"She didn't have anywhere else to go," Joe said.

"Besides," Sugar commented half-heartedly, "Blaine and I have nothing in common, I don't even want to talk to him anymore."

Artie raised his eyebrows, but Joe signalled to him not to ask about it.

"Apples are nutritious," Sugar took out two apples from her bag and handed them to Artie and Joe. "It's a present, just take it."

Artie looked from the apple to Sugar, briefly considering that it may be poisoned.

"Anyway, Joe," Artie turned to his partner and held out his palm. Joe immediately took out the song sheets from his bag, which were littered with strange markings from top to bottom. Sugar couldn't tell what it meant.

"Oh, you did your homework," Artie sounded pleasantly surprised. But when it comes to Joe, he should expect him to do whatever he's told. That's the only problem with Joe, he's too trusting.

It's going to bite him in the ass, Sugar thought.

"What the hell kind of song is that?" Sugar swiped a piece of paper from Joe's hands. "Waiting for Superman? That's a stupid title."

"The title doesn't matter," Artie said, swiping the piece of paper back, and in the most matter-of-fact tone ever, proclaimed, "it's the lyrics that do."

"It's a good song," Joe whispered to Sugar. But Sugar just mouthed her disinterest and walked away.

Artie and Joe continued sitting around the old marble table outside of Artie's house. The garden was small but beautiful, even Sugar had to admit it. Her house was so high-class that they often lacked the amazing graces of Mother Nature. Or well, nature taken into the hands of humans.

"Are we going to practice?" Joe asked Artie hesitantly.

"I'm still not very sure about her being here," Artie placed his jaw into his hand, leaning on the arm of his wheelchair. He took a long hard stare at Sugar, who seemed much more interested in the plants than them. "Now I am," Artie turned to Joe.

After giving Joe the cue, Artie laid back in his wheelchair and listened to Joe sing his lines.

"Oh, man," Artie stopped Joe halfway, "that was awesome!"

"Really?" Joe looked shocked. The only person to ever have given him a compliment was Quinn.

"Yeah, like better-than-me awesome."

"Cool," Joe smiled down at the lyrics. Singing it again in his head. There's no use getting excited about Artie's comments, Joe wanted to use this to keep the ball rolling.

"Hey, you should, like, audition for that solo spot in Nationals," Artie chuckled, laying a hand on Joe.

"Nah, that spot should be for the seniors. Let's practice some more."

"There's always next year."

Sugar walked over to them before Artie and Joe could start practicing again. "What are you two boys hammering on about?"

"Stuff," Artie pressed his jaw in, annoyed about getting interrupted. But then he noticed Sugar holding an apple again. "Okay, what the hell is with you and apples?"

Sugar looked up from the apple, but not a Artie or Joe. "Something," she said unconvincingly. She looked up at Artie's face before adding "Personal."

"Sure..." Artie looked away slowly. He looked down at his lyric sheet, contemplating what to do next.

"Okay, fine," Sugar pressed her hands against the stone cold table, "if you must know."

Sugar pressed her forehead against the apple she had left on the table as Artie and Joe looked to her with bewilderment.

"I was a very temperamental child." Still are, Artie thought. "Every time I would throw some sort of 'fit' my mother would give me an apple."

"And that helped?" Artie retorted.

"For some reason," Sugar replied coolly, pushing the apple away from her. "They just, remind me of my mother now, I guess."

"That's deep," said Joe, who seemed to have connected more to the story than Artie, who had a frown on his face, did.

"Anyway, I think I'll be taking off now," Sugar shrugged and walked off. Her body swayed as she disappeared into the distance.

"Well," Artie knocked Joe out of his daze, "I guess that's the cue for us to continue."

**Glee**

_Artie  
__She's watching the taxi __driver__, he pulls away  
She's been locked up inside her apartment a hundred days_

_Artie and Joe  
__She says, "Yeah, he's still coming, just a little bit late.  
He got stuck at the laundromat washing his cape."  
She's just watching the clouds roll by and they spell her name  
Like Lois Lane  
And she smiles, oh the way she smiles_

Tina leaned in to Jake as the two boys performed at the front of the choir room. She whispered, "we got this in the bag. Ours was so much better."

Jake merely shook his head. Tina was so focused on the competition but Jake could see every other partner whispering the exact same thing. For some reason, when it comes to competition, everyone in New Directions just become so disrespectful.

_Joe  
__She's talking to angels,  
Counting the stars  
Making a wish on a passing car_

_Artie and Joe  
__She's dancing with strangers,  
She's falling apart  
Waiting for Superman to pick her up  
In his arms, yeah, in his arms, yeah  
She's waiting for Superman..._

Joe took a bow at the end of the song and everybody clapped for them. At least they had the decency to do that, Jake thought. Tina caught wind of it and said, "we aren't as bad as our seniors, so shush."

"Okay," Finn called up from where he was seated. He was sitting right smack in the middle of everyone else. Sometimes, it still felt like he belonged in the club, instead of being the teacher in charge of it. "Last one up, Blaine and Sugar."

"Sorry, Finn, we don't have anything prepared," Blaine sighed exhaustively, folding his arms.

Everyone in the choir room exchanged confused looks. It was not like Blaine to not get something done.

"Did something happen?" Finn looked towards Sugar.

"Just Blaine being a big whiny bitch," she replied indifferently. Joe tugged her from behind, telling her not to be rude almost immediately.

Blaine paid no attention to her, turning away as everyone was left staring.

"I feel like my ears are deceiving me," Ryder whispered over to Jake, who just sat there silently shaking his head.

"Oh, whatever, that's just one less couple to beat anyway," Kitty turned to Finn, "come on, hurry up and name boy-girl and me the winners."

A comment like that from any stranger would have been met with resent, but it was Kitty, and everyone already knew she doesn't mean it. At all, even so that Unique was totally cool with it.

"Okay, since Blaine and Sugar are dropping out of the competition," Finn bit his lips.

"Whoa, whoa, hold up!" A voice came from the door. Finn looked at all the puzzled faces of the New Directions, some had terror infused into them. He turned around to see Jean Baptiste standing at the door. A crowd of students wearing blue stood behind him. "A competition? And you didn't invite us?"

"I'm sorry," Finn smiled politely, "but I think you're in the wrong school."

Jean looked at him, in a way that he looked both respectful yet arrogant. "I think we are, Finn Hudson. Your school just has very bad security."

"That doesn't mean you can come waltzing in here," Unique jumped out of her seat and charged towards Jean. Her fingers pointed straight in between his eyes.

"Hi Wade, it's been a long time."

"Not long enough."

Finn turned to look at the people behind Jean. Some were looking bored and others just plain annoyed. Though there still were the few who just looked smug and bitchy. Unlike the Vocal Adrenaline three years ago, it seemed like their leader really only had half the squad's support.

"Sorry, Jean, I may have to ask you to leave." Finn said, gesturing for him to get out of the room.

Jean laughed. A terrible laugh, Kitty noted. "I'm honoured that you know my name, Finn Hudson, but we're not leaving just yet."

"Oh, God, what's with all this Jessie bullshit?" Tina threw her hands onto her face.

"Yes, Tina, nice to see you again," Jean grinned at her.

"Don't you talk to her like that," Finn moved into Jean's view, blocking Tina out of sight.

"Come on, man, let's just go," a boy from the Vocal Adrenaline crowd made his way to the front. He wore a blue dress shirt wrapped in a tight black vest - the colours of Vocal Adrenaline, of course. Jean seemed to just ignore him.

"Finn," Blaine called out from behind, "let them do what they want to do."

Finn turned back, shocked. Tina and Artie were staring daggers at him too. But Blaine's curiosity was justified, he wanted to study the enemy.

Jean did a little bow towards Blaine as the whole of Vocal Adrenaline entered the choir room. They had five times the number of people New Directions had. Unique and Finn grudgingly took a seat among New Directions. Finn didn't really approve of letting Vocal Adrenaline perform, but he couldn't deny that Vocal Adrenaline was just exposing themselves, to all of them this time.

Tina leaned in to Finn's ear, "didn't you hear a word I said that day? We can't let everyone see this."

"We'll either be intimidated now or during Nationals. I'd rather it now," Finn replied. A reasonable reply that Tina could not counter. So she just sat back, wondering when Finn had begun making sense.

"Unfortunately," Jean announced to New Directions, "we weren't prepared for your little competition. What type of competition is it again?"

"Duets," Finn responded coldly.

"Is this supposed to be the competition?" Aylin wondered aloud to Ryder, who just nodded. "He's not as good-looking as you."

"It's... nevermind," Ryder had practically given up trying to figure out Aylin. Whenever there seems to be a crack, it disappears within moments. He had just decided to wait until she wanted to share. For now, there were more pressing matters.

"Fantastic," Jean beamed, he snapped his fingers and two members of Vocal Adrenaline stepped up. The boy who had spoken up earlier and a girl that no one had noticed until then walked in front. The rest of Vocal Adrenaline seemed so relaxed, so Finn assumed that they won't be performing at all. Jean's really sticking true to their competition theme then, weird, Finn thought.

"New Directions," Jean gestured towards the crowd of thirteen, and then pointed to the duo from his side, "Michael and Nellie." Jean smiled as he walked towards the band.

"I assume your band is competent?" he chuckled as he handed out score sheets to everyone of them.

Blaine turned towards Tina, Joe and Sugar. "These are the two freshmen, right?" He had already known the answer but the nods from the three of them just reassured him. It would be even more surprising, and detrimental, if it had been otherwise.

But, Tina noted, that the two freshmen didn't seem to want to be there at all. The girl was tightly clutching her dress and looking down onto the ground. The guy just looked plain annoyed, sucking his lips in.

But as soon as the band began playing, the boy looked up to the New Directions with confidence.

_Michael  
__Do you hear me, I'm talking to you  
Across the water across the deep blue ocean  
Under the open sky, oh my, baby I'm trying_

Tina and Artie turned to look at Sam straight away. Sam had been quietly watching the whole time, but now he just looked completely jealous. He was biting his thumb so hard Artie could swear he saw blood. Sam had sung this song in the last duet competition they had, and he had won. But now, someone's singing it better than he did.

_Michael  
__Every time we say goodbye  
I wish we had one more kiss  
I'll wait for you, I promise you, I will_

_Lucky I'm in love with my best friend  
Lucky to have been where I have been  
Lucky to be coming home again_

_Nellie  
__Cause if I were a boy  
I think I could understand  
How it feels to love a girl  
I swear I'd be a better man._

The transition of songs was so well done, half of New Directions didn't even realise the song change until a bit later. By this time, Michael had moved back into the crowd and Nellie had taken over. Her voice didn't fit her demeanour. Her voice was grounded and confident, making all the females in New Directions quiver.

"Holy shit," Kitty whimpered. She had not expected this from the girl, who just transformed from a timid nervous girl to a strong empowering one.

_Nellie  
__Say it's just a mistake  
Think I'd forgive you like that  
If you thought I would wait for you  
You thought wrong_

All eyes then went to Unique, even Jean Baptiste. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, staring green at the girl whose singing. She then turned her attention to Jean, realising that he was beaming right at her. It was then did Finn realise that he had chosen the two songs on purpose.

_Nellie  
__You don't listen to her  
You don't care how it hurts  
Until you lose the one you wanted  
'Cause you've taken her for granted  
And everything you had got destroyed  
But you're just a boy_

Nellie finished and then stared a bit at New Directions. There was no applause, there was no cheers. The members of New Directions just sat there silently and stared, either at the two freshmen or at the ground. Nellie turned back to rejoin the group and Jean gestured for them to leave.

"Hope you consider us to win," Jean winked at Finn before following out the door.

* * *

**Author's Comments:** Viewership slowed down for the last two eps TT^TT Anyway, just realised that only and all even chapters start with a song. I should stop that, probably.

**Songs:  
**Just A Kiss by Lady Antebellum sung by Tina and Jake  
Waiting For Superman by Daughtry sung by Artie and Joe  
Lucky / If I Were A Boy sung by Michael and Nellie


	11. Chapter 11

**Glee S5 AU  
Episode 11  
The Soloist**

* * *

**Storlines:**  
Sam and Unique: In an attempt to regain their self-confidence, the two suggest auditions for the lead duet  
Tina and Finn: They finally settle what they plan to do with their awkward situation

* * *

"Why do we need auditions for the guys? I thought Blaine was getting the part," Ryder looked around at the other faces of the glee club.

"That was never decided," Sam pointed out.

"Yeah, guys, besides, the duet competition was interrupted, so we can't really decide who we want to duet," Unique appealed to the a half of the Glee club while Sam addressed the others.

Kitty laughed in her seat, "You two just want to get the part because Vocal Adrenaline kicked your ass at those songs."

"Hey, Unique actually sung that song with emotion," Ryder nudged Kitty.

"Did you even hear that Nellie girl?" Tina shrieked, "she was just phenomenal in that song. No offence, Unique."

Unique glared at Tina, with eyes so wide it made any owl's ones look like marbles. Sam walked over to Blaine, asking him for approval.

"Sure, I think it's the fairest way to decide," Blaine beamed. But everyone knew that he only agreed because he expected to win.

"Alright then," Sam clapped his hand together, "I'll just tell this to Finn and then we'll be fine."

"Sam," Tina stood up, walking over to him, "How exactly is this audition thing supposed to work?"

"I'll leave it to Finn to decide."

"Hold on," Artie wheeled himself towards the centre of the choir room, and then pointed over to Unique and Sam. "Do you two really plan on winning together or something?"

"Yes." Both of them said simultaneously.

Unique and Sam had gotten quite close in the past few days, well, hours. They started whining to each other about Vocal Adrenaline's performance the day before. Both felt the most threatened and they wanted to show New Directions that they were still better singers than Vocal Adrenaline. "Jean probably knew about those songs and picked them to screw you guys over," Finn had said, "You should be flattered he chose you two to intimidate."

But Finn's words didn't do anything for them. Instead of convincing them that they were great singers in New Directions, it only just proved to them that the best of their club couldn't even match the two freshmen Vocal Adrenaline had.

"Does your voices even go together?" Artie asked the pair. Unique looked at Sam for a moment and then they both started giggling.

"Of course, Artie," Unique waved a finger at him, laughing off Artie's comment.

Aylin looked at them confused, and then leaned in towards Jake, "they're going to sing, aren't they?"

"Happens way too often for anyone's good," Jake commented, before taking out his phone and playing around with it.

_Sam  
__Rising up, back on the street  
Did my time, took my chances  
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet  
Just a man and his will to survive_

_Unique  
__So many times it happens too fast  
You trade your passion for glory  
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past_

_Sam  
__You must fight just to keep them alive_

Everyone but Artie was amused by the new pairing in front of them. Unique and Sam barely ever had a conversation alone and now singing together, they look like they've been friends for years. Artie still believed that their voices don't go, and as one of the most judgemental person in New Directions, he felt that he would never allow Finn to choose both of them together to duet in Nationals. It would be an epic fail, he thought.

_Unique and Sam  
__And the last known survivor  
Stalks his prey in the night  
And he's watching us all with the eye _

_Unique__  
of the tiger_

**Glee**

"A competition? I think we've had enough of that, Sam," Finn paced around his dorm room while holding a book in his right hand and a phone on his left.

Puck had been knocked out on his bed. Probably from drinking too much, Finn presumed. It was about 3 am at the moment and Finn had been shocked to receive a call from anyone at that time. It was even more surprising that it was from both Sam and Unique.

"I mean, just this year alone, we've had a Diva competition, a boys vs girls competition, a competition for 'New Rachel', for some reason, and a duet competition," Finn moaned, "Not to mention we had auditions for Grease."

"Yeah, but,"

"I'm probably just going to get the winner for 'New Rachel' and the Diva competition to sing the duet," Finn plopped down into his chair and laid the book on the table. He swapped the phone to the other side of his head and said, "I think that's the best, right?"

"No!" Unique screamed through the phone, almost causing Finn to drop his, "The 'New Rachel' competition was so rigged, 50% of that was from an online poll which thought Blaine looked handsome! He was the worst of us, and you know it Finn Hudson."

Finn let out a long sigh. "Okay, fine, I'll do an audition for the guys."

"And the girls! Don't let your testosterone cloud your judgement," Unique scolded, much to Finn's annoyance, "You ain't gonna be biased towards Tina just because you like her."

"I don't," Finn started but just decided to ignore that comment. "Fine, tell them to get their auditions ready on Monday."

"Hell yeah, that's what I'm talking about," Unique cheered.

"Thanks, Finn!" Sam said before the two hung up.

Finn dropped his phone down onto the table and stared at his book. "Great," he groaned.

**Glee**

"We definitely got this in the bag," Sam whispered over to Unique as they waited in the auditorium. Majority of New Directions had arrived but Finn still hasn't. Tina and Sugar were nowhere to be seen either.

"I've already came up with a few songs we could sing together," Unique whispered back, "What do you think of something Beyonce?"

Sam shook his head as Finn burst through the auditorium door. He apologised profusely and then rushed to the table in the middle of the audience.

"Finn," Blaine walked over to Finn and told him about Tina's illness. Finn nodded his head and told Blaine that he already knew.

"That's just one less competitor for you," Sam snickered.

"I was going to beat her anyway."

"You lost to her in two different competitions."

Unique's face burst into a flame of emotions. Her eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of their sockets and her lips were pursed tightly like a locked cage. Sam didn't even dare to look away as the menace of Unique's front stared down upon him.

"Okay," Finn clapped his hands together, like he always does when he wanted to grab everybody's attention, "As Tina is unwell today, she'll audition another day. The girls, you'll still audition today."

"That's unfair!" Unique blurted out, spitting into Sam's face.

Finn stared at her in shock. Everyone else did too, but it appears that she had no shame at all and just continued staring at Finn with a horrified expression on her face.

"Unless," Finn felt like he was threading on treacherous waters here, "All the girls would want to audition tomorrow?"

Kitty and Marley shook their heads. They had prepared all morning for this and they didn't want it to delay it. Finn apologised to Unique, who still looked annoyed. But she didn't have a choice so she just went with it. "I'll still beat her anyway," she grumbled on as she walked past Sam and went to the stage.

"So, Skyfall is the song, right?" Finn looked up at the four girls on stage. Marley, Kitty, Unique and Aylin were all there. The last of which was there because Finn had asked her multiple times to at least give it a go. With 6 girls in New Directions, one of whom was sick and the other didn't even bother to turn up, Finn was worried about the decision he would have to make.

Artie wheeled up beside Finn. "Hey, Finn," and the two proceeded to discuss silently. The four girls on stage quickly set up the microphones for their performance and then waited for Finn's word.

"Erm, change of plans, Artie's going to co-judge with me."

"What?" Unique screamed out once again. But she then realised that it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Artie has the eye for talent. But then again, Kitty was his girlfriend. This time, she actually apologised.

"Don't worry, Kitty already knows I'll treat all of you with equal and extreme prejudice," Artie laughed.

"Okay, whenever you four are ready," Finn gave them the thumbs up and smiled encouragingly at them.

_Marley  
__This is the end  
Hold your __breath__ and count to ten  
Feel the __earth__ move and then  
Hear my heart burst again_

_Kitty  
__For this is the end  
I've drowned and dreamt this moment  
So overdue I owe them_

_Unique  
__Swept away, I'm stolen_

"Unique's really good," Artie commented, "But needs more control."

"I think Marley's great," Finn muttered.

_Marley  
__Skyfall is where we start  
A thousand miles and poles apart  
Where worlds collide and days are dark_

_Unique  
__You may have my number, you can take my name  
But you'll never have my heart_

_Unique and Kitty (Marley and Aylin)  
__Let the sky fall (let the sky fall)  
When it crumbles (when it crumbles)  
We will stand tall (we will stand tall)  
Face it all together_

"Aylin's not singing much," Finn looked at Artie and Artie nodded in agreement. Of the three, she doesn't really stand out at all.

Artie then gestured at Aylin, signalling for her to start singing more. Aylin didn't seem to notice as she was shyly looking at the ground. Marley saw and then at Finn's approval, went to tell Aylin. Aylin looked nervously towards Artie and Finn. One face was full of condescension and the other full of enthusiasm. But she had to sing anyway, she already agreed so she just closed her eyes and tried her best.

_Aylin  
__Where you go I go  
What you see I see  
I know I'd never be me  
Without the security  
Of your __loving arms__  
Keeping me from harm  
Put your hand in my hand  
And we'll stand_

Artie was completely caught off guard by the power in her voice. "Holy crap, I've never heard her sing that high!" He cheered on as the rest of the girls continued singing.

Soon, the girls finished and they stepped down from the stage. Sam flashed his thumbs up at Unique, who was convinced she did the best. Marley and Kitty came down beaming and Aylin had her face between her hands.

"Oh my God, that was scary," she giggled.

Ryder went to hug her and said, "Don't worry, you did great."

"Yeah, you were awesome," Joe echoed Ryder's compliments. Aylin sat back down, contented.

"Okay," Finn turned around and scanned the crowd, "Boys, your turn."

Ryder, Sam and Blaine walked up towards the stage. Only half the boys seemed interested in auditioning for the part.

"Joe!" Artie shouted when he didn't see the skinny Christian on the stage.

Joe obeyed Artie's unsaid command and hastened towards the other three boys.

"Jake, you're not auditioning?" Aylin asked, in which Jake just shook his head.

Marley looked towards him from behind and heaved a sigh. She really had to talk to him about his attitude lately. He doesn't seem to be wanting to do anything that he used to. They had agreed to get over whatever happened between them for the club but they honestly haven't done so yet.

"Closure," her mom had told her, "Is the key to solving everything, sweetie."

"Start whenever you're ready, guys," Finn's voice boomed towards the stage.

"Wait," Marley sounded way louder and squeakier than she had hoped, "Jake, why don't you audition?" Her voice sounded so robotic and monotonous that it even surprised herself. She had tried to hide any sentimental tone to it so that he would not get the wrong idea, but it backfired.

"Yeah, Jake, come up!" Ryder waved to his best friend. Jake looked from Marley to Ryder, and then hesitantly made his way up the stage.

"I'll sing," Jake breathed into the mike, "but I don't want to be considered for the part."

Sam giggled like a little girl inside. It's not like you'll win anyway, he thought. For Sam, he was sure that he would be the winner. Just like Unique, his confidence was sky high.

_Jake  
__Step__ one, you say, "We need to talk."  
He walks, you say, "Sit down. It's just a talk."  
He smiles politely back at you  
You stare politely right on through_

_Ryder and Jake  
__Some sort of window to your right  
As he goes left and you stay right  
Between the lines of fear and blame  
You begin to wonder why you came_

"Jake's voice fit this song perfectly," Artie growled in disappointment. It was a shame he didn't want to actually audition.

_Blaine  
__Let him know that you know best  
'Cause after all you do know best  
Try to slip past his defence  
Without granting innocence_

_Sam  
_Lay down a list of what is wrong  
The things you've told him all along

_Sam and Joe  
__Pray to God, he hears you  
And I pray to God, he hears you_

"Joe's really good," Finn whispered to Artie.

"Told you," scorned Artie.

_Sam  
__He will do one of two things  
He will admit to everything  
Or he'll say he's just not the same  
And you'll begin to wonder why you came_

_Jake and Joe  
__Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend  
Somewhere along in the bitterness  
And I would have stayed up with you all night  
Had I known how to save a life_

_Blaine  
__How to save a life  
How to save a life_

"Awesome," complimented Finn, "Artie and I will get back to you guys after Tina's audition."

Finn got out from his seat and pushed Artie away from the table, dismissing New Directions.

"We so won this thing," Sam whispered to Unique as they headed out of the auditorium.

**Glee**

"And they agreed to this?" Tina was uncertain. She didn't want to make it seem like she got the part just because Finn and Artie were giving her special treatment. And it does feel like special treatment.

"They are totally fine with me being the sole soloist auditioner? I mean, they all auditioned in groups, are you incredibly sure that they are okay with that?"

"Yes, calm down," Finn assured her, "I talked to them about this already. Only Unique had a problem about it, but not after her audition."

"Stop making such a big fuss about it," Artie groaned and gestured for Tina to take the stage.

Tina looked from Finn and Artie and just gave up. She wasn't entirely convinced that the others had agreed but what could she do now? She did in fact want to sing the duet. During her first two years in New Directions, she barely ever sung in competitions, but then again it was kind of her fault for turning down anything Mr. Schuester threw at her the first year.

"This is Beam Me Up by P!nk," Tina muttered into the microphone.

_Tina  
__There's a whole 'nother conversation going on  
In a __parallel universe__.  
Where nothing breaks and nothing hurts._

Artie smiled towards Finn. He had called it, Tina was amazing in her audition. For him, just this verse had pitted her against Aylin, who had blown him away. Finn didn't look like he was convinced just yet.

_Tina  
__Could you beam me up,  
Give me a minute, I don't know what I'd say in it  
I'd probably just stare  
Happy just to be there, holding your face  
Beam me up,  
Let me be lighter, I'm tired of being a fighter,  
I think a minute's enough,  
Just beam me up._

"She's good, right? I'm feeling she's good," Finn nervously asked Artie.

"She's spectacular," Artie answered, "with a capital S."

_Tina  
__Beam me up  
Beam me up  
Beam me up  
Could you beam me up._

"Holy crap," Artie gasped as Tina finished. "That was the closest to Rachel out of every one left in the Glee club?"

"Really?" Tina was indifferent, she was flattered but being compared to Rachel irks her a bit. Mercedes, Santana and Quinn were barely ever compared to Rachel, they had different unique voices. But if her voice was just an inferior Rachel Berry, she would not be able to stand that.

"Really? I was reminded more of Quinn," Finn chuckled, "Either way, good job, that was awesome." Finn smiled at her before he started packing up his stuff. Artie moved out from the table and down the ramp. He nodded farewell to Tina before leaving the auditorium.

"Hey, Tina," Finn called out just as Tina walked down from the stage. "Are you doing anything today? Like, after school."

Stunned, Tina couldn't even turn her face towards Finn. Her eyes just darted towards the tall, yet kind of cute and dorky looking man beside her. His face was unflinching, but it showed signs of nervousness. There must have been a few seconds of silence because Finn suddenly cleared his throat. Silence really is uncomfortable, she thought.

"Erm," she chocked, mainly just to ease the tension a bit. She, of course, couldn't go through with it. Despite talks with Jake, she still did not want to jeopardise anything with Finn. "Did Jake say something to you?" she asked, suddenly getting very suspicious of the situation. She had only just remembered what she and Jake discussed a week ago.

"Yes," Finn admitted shamefully. He turned his head away and scratched the back of his ear, a thing he does when he's feeling very uncomfortable, Rachel had told her.

"Okay, I just want to get something clear first, before, anything weird happens," Tina continued slowly, "Whatever my reply is, it won't affect the audition right?"

"What? No, of course not!" Finn cleared his throat again, louder than before. His eyes darted around but eventually focused back on Tina. "Okay," Tina finally turned to face Finn, "I don't really care what Jake told you, just forget about that. Meet me in the choir room after school."

With that, Tina strolled out of the choir room, leaving Finn gleefully smiling at her acceptance.

**Glee**

"First off," Tina announced suddenly, when Finn walked into the room, "Sam and Unique's been complaining non-stop about your decision on Whatsapp and it's getting annoying." She had been looking down at her phone the whole time, leading Finn to wonder how attentive she was to her surroundings.

Tina's head tilted upwards to look at Finn, and pleaded, "Please shut them up."

"That's not much to say that haven't been said, Artie and I had pretty much the same decision," Finn shrugged.

"That's flattering. I've always wanted to do a duet with Blaine."

"Heh, if it wasn't for Jake not wanting to audition, you'll be dueting with him. Come to think of it, you two were amazing in your duet competition too."

"Thanks," Tina laughed.

"So, ready to go? I need to stop by the college for a while, if you don't mind." Finn said, biting his lips.

"Before that," Tina's expression suddenly changed, she was suddenly solemn and she sounded tired. Tina ruffled through her bag and pulled out a few pages of paper.

"Song?" Finn asked, cheerfully but with a heart full of worry.

"We sang a song before at your request, to see where we actually were in this whole thing," Tina explained, "which kinda worked at my expense." She laughed, and Finn couldn't help but join in.

"But, it's still weird. Not only were you like a big brother to me before this whole... thing. But," Tina paused, as if saying the next words were a sin.

"Rachel," Finn looked down at the sheet of paper.

"Sing it," Tina said, looking up sadly at him, "I know there's something there, you're just denying it. Pretending to like someone else? Been there, done that, Finn."

Finn dropped down into a chair. "Even if there is, won't it be weird between us?"

"It's already weird. Sure, maybe acting on this, whatever it is, will make it less weird," and then she added, "temporarily. But if we know you still love Rachel, then I know that we'll get over this whole... thing, which I'm going to say is a stupid crush."

Finn sighed and read the words of the song. Tina took the cue and placed her MP3 on the table. Not many people use those anymore.

_Finn  
__Hey there Delilah  
What's it like in __New York City__?  
I'm a thousand miles away  
But girl, tonight you look so pretty  
Yes you do  
Times Square can't shine as bright as you  
I swear it's true_

Although crestfallen, Tina was secretly proud of herself for finding a song that depicts Finn and Rachel's relationship so perfectly. If Finn really felt nothing, that would solve one complication. But it's not like that would ever happen, Tina thought.

_Finn__  
Hey there Delilah  
You be good and don't you miss me  
Two more years and you'll be done with school  
And I'll be making history like I do_

_Oh it's what you do to me  
Oh it's what you do to me  
Oh it's what you do to me  
Oh it's what you do to me  
What you do to me._

After Finn finished, he just switched off the MP3 and sat there, without a word. But Tina didn't even need to wait for Finn's reply to know that she was right.

* * *

**Update: **The next chapter won't come out anytime soon. I have exams ongoing so it'll probably be released near the end of next month or later. I'm sorry :(

**Author's Comments:** Shoutout to WildeAbrams for the multiple reviews:) Finally going to resolve the Frankenasian and Jarley storyline next and having a mini Wildebrams story too! Then I'll move on to the people I haven't been focusing much on.

**Songs:  
**Eye of the Tiger by Survivor sung by Sam and Unique  
Skyfall by Adele sung by Marley, Kitty, Unique and Aylin  
How To Save A Life by The Fray sung by Jake, Ryder, Blaine, Sam and Joe  
Beam Me Up by P!nk sung by Tina  
Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's sung by Finn


End file.
